Silver Ice
by Shadow Oblivion
Summary: Short stories with Sesshomaru and Rin.
1. Snakes

Disclaimer: Do not own Inuyasha characters, ect.

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It was a beautiful, crystal clear day, and Sesshomaru was quite content with staring up at the sky in silence. There were no clouds in sight, and there wasn't another demon for miles. It was very nice not having to worry about anything. Sesshomaru allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction, before it reverted to a frown. Unless, of course, you had a little human girl with you that always seemed to attract some kind of trouble. The serene peace of the moment was suddenly shattered as Sesshomaru heard Rin approach him, yelling.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! Look! Look! Look what I found!" Came Rin's excited cry.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Sesshomaru turned around to look down at Rin with a deadpan expression. "What is it Rin?" He hoped it was worth interrupting his peace for.

Rin, smiling widely, held something up for Sesshomaru to inspect. "I found it! Can Rin eat it?"

Sesshomaru's expression changed to faint surprise when he saw what Rin was clutching in her hands. A snake. Yes, it _was_ a snake _and _it was angry. He quickly snatched the hissing creature from Rin's hands before it could think to bite her.

Rin's eyes immediately watered, and she pouted in disappointment. Had she done something wrong? Sesshomaru's expression was hard to read at the moment.

Sesshomaru saw Rin's sad face, and sighed inwardly. What to do…

"… Lord Sesshomaru? What are you going to do with it?" Rin asked tentatively, indicating the writhing snake held in his hand.

Sesshomaru stared at the small hissing creature in question. He needed to get rid of it, but he couldn't just kill it in front of Rin. She'd get even more upset. Sesshomaru saw Rin's hopeful face, and made a quick decision, one that he hoped would have the right results. Swinging the snake aloft, Sesshomaru threw it as hard as he could, dearly hoping it would land in the nearby stream and solve his problem. Sesshomaru turned back to Rin, who was smiling happily again. He'd never understand humans and their emotions.

"So _that's _what you do with them." Giggling, Rin ran off, heading in the direction she had come from. Feeling a sense of forbidding, Sesshomaru followed her.

Rin halted near a hole in the ground, and pointed at it, before looking up at Sesshomaru, still smiling. "Let's have a contest and see how far we can throw them!"

Sesshomaru glanced down at what Rin had been pointing at. His expression was strained. Inside the hole were a lot of snakes, all of whom looked furious at the prospect of being disturbed. Some more giggling caused Sesshomaru to look up.

Rin had run over to the stream, and had apparently found something interesting. "What are those things swimming around? Can we eat them?" Rin asked, pointing at the movement in the water.

Sesshomaru moved quickly to stop Rin from sticking a hand into the stream. The things swimming around were piranhas.

"What do you do with them Lord Sesshomaru?" Came Rin's innocent question. Sesshomaru gave a small, audible sigh. It was going to be a very long and stressful day.

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Please review as it's my first fanfiction. I'd like to know what you think of it and if I should add more chapters to it.


	2. Tail trouble

Thank you for the reviews, and thanks to anyone who read the first story. Here's another short story with Sesshomaru and Rin.

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Birds trilled their early morning songs. Dew fell from surrounding tree leaves. Bees buzzed by, seeking out pollen from different flowers. All of this activity was lost on Sesshomaru, who was heading back to the camp where he had left Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un (A/N is that the two-headed dragons' name?) the night before.

Sesshomaru was dileberatly moving slowly, as he tried to figure out how to deal with a small problem.

When he had been scouting the lands, Sesshomaru had run into many demons. After a few choice words and insults, Sesshomaru had changed into his true demon form. Once he dealt out his wrath, Sesshomaru changed back, only to find that his tail hadn't gone away.

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder at the tail, which was swishing back and forth innocently. Sesshomaru frowned. This _could_ be a problem. He knew that Jaken wouldn't say anything, but he wasn't sure about Rin. She'd probably be really curious about his tail, and try to touch it.

He _had _to find a way to prevent that from happening.

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Rin yawned widely, and turned over onto her back. Sesshomaru hadn't come back yet. Rin could have slept some more but she decided to stay awake and wait for Sesshomaru's return.

Fifteen minutes later…

Rin saw Sesshomaru enter the campsite slowly, and sit down against a tree once he sent Jaken away with Ah-Un. Rin saw something laying alongside Sesshomaru, and it seemed to come out from behind him. Rin pretended to wake up, then approached Sesshomaru with a smile. "Good morning, Lord Sesshomaru. Where is Jaken?"

"I sent him away for awhile. He's looking for food. We shall stay here for a few days." Sesshomaru answered, staring at something over Rin's head.

"Oh!" Rin replied, then fixed her eyes on the white fluffy thing next to Sesshomaru. "What is that Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru's expression was between embarrassment and annoyance. "My tail…"

Rin giggled. "Why haven't I seen it before?"

"It's supposed to go away when I change back from my true form. When I changed back this morning, it didn't go away…" Sesshomaru replied uncomfortably.

Rin giggled again. "Why won't it go away?"

"…" While Sesshomaru was thinking of an answer, Rin snuck up to him and latched onto the tail, stroking it. She smiled. "It's soft Lord Sesshomaru. Why don't you want to keep it out?"

'_Because it looks strange unless I'm in my true form.' _Sesshomaru thought as Rin curled up next to his tail, still petting it. She continued doing this until she fell asleep.

Sesshomaru stared up at the sky again, hoping that his tail would go away before Jaken came back with food. He'd leave Rin alone for the time being since she looked so peaceful.

Birds flew overhead, still trilling happily.

A few had minutes passed and Sesshomaru had also drifted to sleep.

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Please review and tell me what you thought about this one. I do have a few more short stories.


	3. Nightmare

Thanks again for reviewing. Here's another short story.

Oh, and the disclaimer (This is for ch. 2 as well, forgot it): Don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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"Lord Sesshomaru! Where are you going?" Rin asked, watching as Sesshomaru left the village. Rin began to run, still calling Sesshomaru's name. The village around her was silent and ominous. Why had they come here in the first place? Frightened, Rin called out louder. "Lord Sesshomaru! Don't leave me!"

Suddenly, Rin ran into some un-seeable barrier, and fell down. She scrambled back up and stood there, still calling as loudly as she could. Sesshomaru was getting further and further away. Then, all of a sudden, he faded from view. "Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin yelled desperatly.

"Stay here with us Rin…" A women's voice said faintly.

Rin turned around, surprised. "M…Mother?" She asked, as she noticed other people next to her mother. They were her brothers and her father. All of them were speaking in distant, hallow voices.

"Yes…stay here with us…"

"You'll be taken care of…"

Rin backed away. "I can't …" She was becoming uneasy.

"Don't you miss us…?"

"Don't choose a demon over us…"

Rin's eyes began to water. "You're dead though. I can't be with you yet. I need to find Lord Sesshomaru…"

Almost at once, her family changed into various demons, some resembling wolves. They roared out in rage and chased Rin out of the village.

Rin ran and ran, tears streaming down her face. Why wasn't Sesshomaru saving her? Had he really abandoned her? Rin finally tripped and fell down. She screamed out in panic as the demon wolves leapt at her…

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Rin woke abruptly, giving out a frightened cry. Shivering, Rin took a quick glance around. She was in a forest, near a lake, in a campsite. This was a welcome sight. The atmosphere was much calmer here than in her dream. Rin saw Jaken and Ah-Un resting near the dwindling camp fire. Rin quickly looked over to where Sesshomaru had been resting earlier. He wasn't there… Rin began to panic until a voice spoke.

"What is the matter Rin?" Sesshomaru's calm voice asked.

Rin turned around to find Sesshomaru resting against a tree. Rin's eyes watered and she began to cry.

Sesshomaru appeared uncertain as to how he should react. This was a much different situation then his tail had been. Speaking of which, he had been grateful that his tail was gone by the time he had woken up. He really didn't want Jaken to see Rin clutching his tail... Before Sesshomaru could think of anything more to say to the ditraught little girl, Rin leapt onto him, gripping his shoulder and the fluffy thing around his shoulder. Sesshomaru had stiffened slightly at her touch, and was troubled. She was still crying. This was definatly a different situation. What was he supposed to do now?

"I had a dream that you left me in a village and my family turned into demons and tried to eat me!" Rin explained to him in one breath.

Sesshomaru's eyes softened slightly (not that anyone would ever see) and spoke. "Don't be foolish. I won't leave you in a village or anywhere unless it's your decision. Understand?"

Rin stopped crying and looked up at Sesshomaru with a big smile. "Okay!" She hugged him and fell asleep.

Sesshomaru settled back and stared up at the starry night sky, frowning. This was now worse than the mishap with his tail. If Jaken saw him like this in the morning, he'd have something to use as a punching bag…

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Please review and let me know how this one went. I have 2 more short stories in the process of being typed.


	4. Palace 1

Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate it. Delayed update due to a pileup of homework. Anyway, here's another short story.

Disclaimer: I will never own anything from Inuyasha.

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Lightning flashed across the sky as rain poured down in immeasurable amounts. It had been like this for the last several days, with no end in sight. No one was outside, except for two figures.

Rin was happily running around, excited with the flashes of lightning. There hadn't been any thunder, so she wasn't scared at the monment.

Sesshomaru followed at a distance, occasionally shaking himself to try and rid himself of the rain. He had sent Jaken away a few days earlier, but because of the rain, he hadn't returned. Sesshomaru glanced up as Rin spoke.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Can we stay in there for awhile?" Rin asked.

Sesshomaru looked at what Rin was pointing at. It was a village, with a rather large palace in the middle of it. Sesshomaru nodded his consent, and Rin sped off towards the enormous building. Sesshomaru followed, casting occasional glaces at his surroundings, sensing _something_. The feeling passed, but Sesshomaru still kept a sharp eye out for trouble.

Five minutes later, Rin and Sesshomaru were inside the palace, drying off near a fireplace.

When Rin was warm, she began to explore the room they were in. Since no one had stopped them from coming in, she decided that she was entitled to look everywhere.

Sesshomaru glanced around. He didn't smell any human other than Rin in ths place. He only picked up a faint demon scents. Sesshomaru doubted that another demon would bother them, but still... "Rin, do not leave this room..." Sesshomaru stopped short, noticing that Rin wasn't there anymore. He heard giggling further down the hall. Sesshomaru frowned. Were all young humans so energetic? Sesshomaru walked in the direction he heard Rin giggling, still staying alert for anything unusual.

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Further back in the palace, a demon lounged in a bed, surrounded by cushions and blankets. All you could see of the demon were two glowing red eyes. The rest of it as invisible. The demon had come to the village a few months ago, and had driven away or destroyed its inhabitants. The demon was extremely bored, and was about to go sleep again, when it heard giggling. It also heard the sound of someone passing the room it was in.

The demon came wide awake, its teeth momentarily visible as it smiled in satisfaction. "Ah, entertainment at last." The demon disappeared altogether, following the noisy human that dared to trespass in its palace. The demon went cautiously, because it sensed another demon, a powerful one, inside its palace as well.

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Rin explored the palace with wide eyes. It was enormous! She paused to look at a few statues, before going into another room, which contained a bed and a window. The storm was still raging on. Rin jumped in fright when the door slammed shut. She hurried over to it, and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. Rin stiffened at the sound of a sinister voice.

"Little human...what are you doing in my palace?"

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Please review and let me know what you thought about this one. This is a two part short story. I have a 4-day weekend so I will be able to update before Monday.


	5. Palace 2

Thank you to those who reviewed, it's good to know that people read the chapter. This is the second part of the short story.

Disclaimer: Anything from Inuyasha is not mine.

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Rin turned around and saw two glowing red eyes staring at her a few feet away. Rin backed up against the door, wondering if Sesshomaru was looking for her.

"Hmm…a human? I haven't seen one for awhile…" The invisible demon said.

Rin glanced around the room. There was no way out of the room, except for the window past the demon and the locked door behind her. Rin spotted a bucket of water, and wondered if that could help her. Rin hurried over to the bucket, with the demon following her.

"What? Do you need a drink of water? You won't need that…" The demon gasped as Rin sloshed the bucket of water on it, causing it to become visible. It looked really funny now.

Rin started to laugh. This demon didn't seem very scary anymore. Rin tried opening the door again, and this time it did. Rin ran out of the room, with the demon chasing after her with an angry roar.

How dare that human do this to it! The demon wouldn't be able to become invisible again until it dried off.

Rin ran into a large open space room with another fireplace. She stopped with a squeak of surprise. There were demon heads all over the place. The invisible demon's voice brought Rin out of her surprise.

"You'll pay for this!" The demon hissed, and dove at Rin with a snarl.

Rin let out a shriek of fright and fell down. When she looked up again, Rin saw Sesshomaru chasing the invisible demon around the room with Tokijin. Rin calmed down at seeing him. Rin was giggling again. "Get him Lord Sesshomaru!"

The invisible demon halted in front of a window, and let out another hiss as Sesshomaru lashed out with the sword. A blue shockwave hit the demon, launching it out of the window. It disappeared into the stormy sky.

Rin skipped over to Sesshomaru, who was looking out the window. Tokijin was back in his belt. "That was amazing Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru continued to look out the window. "We will stay here until the storm is over."

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru, smiling. "Okay!"

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All done. How did this chapter turn out? Please review and let me know. I might not be able to update until next weekend, depending on the amount of homework I get from my teachers.


	6. clothes

I don't know, this just came to mind while I was taking notes during school.

Disclaimer: Nope, nothing from Inuyasha belongs to me

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It was a cool, breezy end of an autumn day. Sesshomaru was walking along the path, heading for a village. He had noticed that it was getting colder and colder out. Sesshomaru, of course, would be fine in the winter cold, but the same could not be said for Rin. Her clothing was far too thin and inadequate for the winter.

Behind Sesshomaru, Rin skipped along, singing softly. Sesshomaru had told her that they were going to stop by a village, before continuing on in pursuit of Naraku. Rin was happy, as long as she could stay with Sesshomaru.

Upon entering the village, most of the villagers avoided Sesshomaru, while others stared at him with open mouths.

Sesshomaru ignored them all, and began to explore the village, looking for warmer clothing for Rin.

Rin followed him, mostly just watching the snow begin to fall. It was so pretty.

Sesshomaru finally stopped in front of a shop, when he noticed that the woman in charge of it was eyeing Rin's clothing in disapproval. Sesshomaru walked up to the women and asked. "Do you have clothing that would fit her?" He indicated Rin.

The women looked at Rin again, the back to Sesshomaru. "Of course I do. Come on in and have a look around." She led Rin inside, and Sesshomaru followed, stepping just inside the shop.

The women showed Rin several outfits, and Rin was so excited that she wanted to try them all on.

As Rin came back and forth from a room, the women cast Sesshomaru many disapproving glances.

Sesshomaru ignored this, and only spoke when Rin asked him what he thought about a particular outfit.

Time passed, and Sesshomaru was beginning to regret bringing Rin along with him. The women seemed determined in getting Rin the best outfits, as she seemed to think that Sesshomaru was neglecting her.

Rin liked many of the outfits, and the woman was trying to get Sesshomaru to buy them (all seven of them). They compromised though, and Sesshomaru got two winter outfits for Rin.

When they left, Sesshomaru could tell that the woman was in a better mood.

Rin ran ahead of Sesshomaru, out of the village. She was very, very happy with her new clothing. Rin had left the shop wearing one of her new outfits, patterned with stars and moons.

Sesshomaru followed, glad to be done. He preferred to spend as much time away from villages.

When they were walking along a path, Rin ran up to Sesshomaru. "Thank you Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru merely inclined his head in answer. Seeing that Rin was still looking up at him, he asked. "What is it?"

Rin looked at the ground. "Well..."

Seshomaru stared up at the sky. "What?" He said.

Rin looked up at Sesshomary with a big smile. "Can we go shopping like that every time the season changes?"

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked.

Sesshomaru continued to stare at the sky, knowing that he did regret bringing Rin along, instead of just buying random clothes himself.

Snow began to fall more heavily. Winter was close.

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And that's it. Please review, I'd really appreciate it. It's supposed to be snowing this weekend with a scattering of rain. People are going to be stupid on the highway, they always are whenever the weather changes even a bit. Anyway, please review and tell me what you thought about this. I'd appreciate any comments. This might not be updated for awhile, since I haven't thought of any new ideas yet. I'm attempting to update my profile as often as I can with any new details.


	7. Snow

Just a random idea that came to mind while watching it snow outside.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

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It was snowing. Rin skipped along the snow strewn path in her winter clothing. She jumped into a nearby snowdrift and rolled around in the snow, laughing. She stopped, laying on her back. The snow was falling down slowly and gently, each snowflake unique. Rin attempted to count the snowflakes, but stopped after awhile. She sat up, noticing that Sesshomaru was walking along the path. His face was expressionless. Rin ducked, and made a snowball. She giggled, wondering how Sesshomaru would react. Rin leapt up and lobbed the snowball at Sesshomaru, ducking again as it hit.

Sesshomaru felt something hit his back. Snow... Sesshomaru stopped walking and glanced in the dirction he had heard a smothered giggle. What did Rin think she was doing? Sesshomaru side-stepped the next snowball, and then saw Rin smiling up at him. Sesshomaru looked up at the sky, frowning. The sky was getting darker... When he turned back, he got a snowball directly in his face, followed by a failed attempt by Rin to conceal a laugh.

Rin ducked behind the snowdrift again, and let out a small gasp as Sesshomaru leapt over the snowdrift and landed, in his true form. Rin stared up at Sesshomaru, then giggled. He had long, fluffy ears, and a fluffy tail.

Sesshomaru stared up at the sky again, as Rin pelted him with snowballs. Why was he doing this? Sesshomaru lay down, and pinned Rin with his right paw when he had had enough of getting hit with a snowball.

Rin was still giggling.

Sesshomaru released her and rested his head on the paw. Did all young humans have so much energy?

Rin curled up near his head, and poked at his paw.

Sesshomaru ignored this, and Rin soon drifted to sleep. Sesshomaru sighed. They'd have to continue walking tomorrow, when it was light out again. Sesshomaru blinked as the snow increased, changing into a blizzard.

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Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter. I still don't like the title of this story, but I'm having a hard time finding a different title. Oh well, I'll think of something. I am trying to update my profile a couple times a month with updates on different stories. Anyway, please review, I'd really appreciate it.


	8. Snow 2

Yay! Reviews! Thank you! I really appreciate it! It's nice to know that people have read the story! I've _finally_ changed the title of the story (got tired of it being called Snakes-only the first chapter had that).

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha...

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Rin yawned and opened her eyes, looking around sleepily. Everything around her was white. Rin blinked in confusion, then glanced up. Snow fell lightly onto her face as she stared up at the snowy sky. _'More snow!'_ Rin thought happily. Something behind her twitched slightly. Rin cautiously pat the solid-looking snow next to her. It felt soft and warm. Rin withdrew her hand and looked more closely, until Rin saw one red eye staring at her from a head resting next to her.

"Oh!" Now she remembered. Sesshomaru was in his true form...and she had fallen asleep. Rin glanced up at the sky again. "Is it morning or night?" She wondered aloud. A gust of chilly air went by, and Rin snuggled up against Sesshomaru's head, looking at the eye that was staring at her. "It's cold...is there somewhere we can go?"

Sesshomaru stood up and shook off the snow that clung to his fur, growling slightly when the snow on his tail wouldn't come off right away.

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru in awe. "Lord Sesshomaru! You're really big!" She held out her arms to try and indicate the size. Rin quickly wrapped her arms about herself, shivering.

Sesshomaru knelt down slightly and Rin stared at him in question. Sesshomaru seemed to roll his eyes, and let out a short huff, which suspiciously sounded like a sigh. Sesshomaru got Rin to sit on his head and hold on. After making sure that Rin wouldn't fall off, Sesshomaru leapt off through the snow, eyeing the surrounding blizzard angrily. He was also cursing Jaken for being gone for so long and leaving him alone with a hyper Rin.

Said Jaken was currently trapped in the same blizzard, with a two-headed dragon annoying him.

After running around for awhile, Sesshomaru spotted a large cave. After scaring a few lesser demons away, Sesshomaru settled into the cave. He blocked most of the enterance, and had Rin get down off of his head and to the ground before she could pull out any more hair.

Rin settled against Sesshomaru, feeling much warmer in the cave. She drifted to sleep, not noticing Sesshomaru staring up at the cave ceiling as though something was wrong with the world.

Ten minutes passed, and Sesshomaru finally decided to go to sleep as well, hoping that Jaken wouldn't fin him like this.

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Please review and let me know how this went!

I know the chapters are short, so I'd like to know how many people would want me to make longer chapters. So, if you'd like the chapters to be longer, please state it clearly in a review, otherwise newer chapters will still be around the same length. If I see that enough people would like longer chapters, then I'll start typing longer ones.

Thanks in advance to anyone who reads the story and/or reviews it. (may change title again, but at least it's better than being called snakes...).


	9. Hot springs

Thanks for the reviews! I finally updated this! It took me awhile, because I was having a difficult time figuring out something for a new chapter. This was an idea I was toying with for almost a month, but I've decided to put it up, so...

I wasn't sure whether this would be considered K+ or T, but since nothing bad happened, and there isn't exactly a great deal going into explaining the hot springs, I think it's okay for a K+ rated story.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru and Rin had finally gotten through the blizzard, and had travelled to somewhere warmer.

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Rin walked through the forest, leadng Ah-Un. She was angry, but at the same time sad. Jaken (who had finally caught up with them) had said a few things that had upset Rin, so she had left him to go find Sesshomaru. Rin wanted to ask him some questions to determine whether or not Jaken had been telling the truth.

Rin wondered where Sesshomaru could be. It didn't seem like he had been expecting to run into any fights. It was more like...he wanted to be alone for awahile. Rin _would _leave Sesshomaru alone, after she had gotten her questions answered.

Ah-Un lumbered alongside Rin, uncomplaining, but suddenly stopped moving.

"What is it?" Rin asked, looking up at the two-headed dragon.

Ah-Un tilted its heads to the right and made a few muffled growls.

Rin looked in the direction indicated. There was mist rising through the trees.

"Oh! A hot spring! Good job Ah-Un! Maybe we can relax there before we look for Lord Sesshomaru..." Happy now, Rin lead the dragon along, intent on relaxing a bit and calming down (she'd have to ignore Jaken's ramblings in the future).

Rin and Ah-Un entered a clearing, and Rin could now see the hot springs. The pools were very large, and by the look of things, both she and the dragon would fit in it comfortably. Rin let out a small gasp as she lost her grip on Ah-Un's reigns as the dragon wandered forward and lay down next to the springs.

"What are you doing here Ah-Un?" Asked Sesshomaru's voice.

"Oh! Lord Sesshomaru! We were looking for you!" Rin called out over Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru peered over Ah-Un, and spotted Rin smiling happily at him. Jaken was going to get it. "What is it Rin?" He asked, really hoping that Rin wouldn't try and get into the water.

"I just wanted to ask you about what Jaken told me, and if it was true or not."

Sesshomaru gave a small sigh. "Very well then."

For the next hour, Rin asked Sesshomaru questions, and he answered back. Once he was done, Rin was apparently quite happy.

"Rin, go and find Jaken. I will follow in a moment." Sesshomaru told Rin, before ducking out of view.

Rin led Ah-Un off, happy that Jaken had been wrong. Now she could bug him for days on end about it.

Sesshomaru breathed out heavily in relief, and sunk further into the hot springs. He had originally come to relax, but had only been able to do so for a short time.

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Rin waited patiently on Ah-Un once she had found Jaken (whom she was pleased to see was in no mood to talk).

Twenty minutes later...

Sesshomaru had no trouble in locating Rin and the others. He walked right by them, indicating that they were leaving. There was silence for quite a long time, until Rin spoke up.

"Lord Sesshomaru, why didn't you come out of the water before?" Rin asked.

Sesshomaru stumbled a bit, before regaining his balance and continuing to walk. "...I have my reasons."

This seemed to satisfy Rin, as she drifted to sleep on the two-headed dragon's back.

Sesshomaru continued on in silence, trying to decide what to do to Jaken for not stopping Rin from finding him before.

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End of chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought of this (any comment is great). I'll try and update again once I see a few reviews, so that I know people have actually read the chapter.


	10. Interlude

Thank you for the reviews! I wrote this for lack of a better chapter (I'm kind of out of new ideas at the moment).

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Rin sang softly to herself as she picked flowers from all around her. Ah-Un was resting nearby, keeping an eye on her to make sure that she didn't wander too far off.

Sesshomaru was silently staring up at the sky. Jaken was next to him, nervously waiting for him to speak. When Sesshomaru deemed that Rin was out of ear shot, he turned and headed for the nearby forest. "Jaken."

Jaken stumbled as he struggled to keep up with the retreating Sesshomaru.

Hours later...

"Where is Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked Ah-Un.

The two headed dragon looked over at the forest.

Rin looked in the same direction, to see Seshomaru exit the forest, followed by a very beaten up Jaken.

"What happened?" Rin asked Jaken.

"...Nothing..." Jaken muttered.

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru for clarification.

Sesshomaru merely nodded in agreement with what Jaken had said.

Rin went back to gathering flowers, Sesshomaru glared at Jaken.

Jaken shrank away. Hopefully Sesshomaru would be in a better mood tomorrow...

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That was a rather short chapter...Oh well...please review, I'd appreciate it (Heh, maybe I should have called this chapter The Beating of an Imp or something).


	11. Fish

Thank you for the reivews! This chapter is a bit random,and short again, but it's what came to mind.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin dove into the shallow water, giggling as she attempted to catch the silver fish swimming through the water. Rin leapt onto a particularly large one, and laughed as it sped around with her. "Look Lord Sesshomaru!"

On shore, Sesshomaru sat on a rock, staring up at the sky. Upon hearing Rin's voice, he glanced over in time to see her lose her grip on the fish. Sesshomaru sighed. Where had Jaken gotten to? And Ah-Un for that matter? Sesshomaru got down from the rock and went over to the water's edge, since Rin had gone underwater.

Rin suddenly surfaced and dove at Sesshomaru, latching onto his legs, giggling again. "I'm a pirahna!"

Sesshomaru stared skywards, feeling the sudden need to hit a missing imp...

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Came Rin's voice.

Sesshomaru glanced down at her.

Rin smiled widely. "Can you catch some of the fish?"

"..." Sesshomaru didn't answer. Where the heck did Jaken get to?

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Yeah, a bit short and really random. So, please review and let me know how this chapter turned out. I may or may not update as soon as this, unless I come up with another idea sooner.


	12. Flowers

Thanks for the reviews! I wrote this during school, since there was no way to get the work done in under an hour (I'll have to finish it on the weekend).

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hopefully it's okay.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin walked around in a field of flowers, rolling around and giggling. There were so many different types of flowers, and the range of color was amazing. There were also a lot of plants.

Rin sat up and began to pick flowers. It was a very nice day in her opinion. It would be great if it could last longer.

Further away from Rin, Sesshomaru was really wanting the day to end, so that he could get away from the very fragment flowers. He wrinkled his nose. Why on earth hadn't he had Jaken watch Rin, instead of sending him away on an errand?

Rin and Sesshomaru had been in the field of flowers for several hours, and Sesshomaru was very tired of seeing all these flowers. It just seemed to..._happy._ He hoped that Rin would get tired, so that they could leave. Sesshomaru settled on the ground to wait.

Rin did get tired after another hour or so, and had curled up next to Sesshomaru, falling asleep almost instantly.

Sesshomaru sighed, but didn't move. He didn't want to wake her up, because she might insist that he help her gather flowers. He settled on the ground more carefully, to wait for Jaken to return. He could put Rin on Ah-Un's back, and then they could get away from all of the flowers.

Sesshomaru drifted into a light sleep, knowing that Jaken should be back in a few hours.

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Yeah, a bit longer than the last one. Please review and let me know how this chapter turned out. I got the idea for this chapter from seeing flowers and plants start to poke out of the ground. So, I felt like adding something with flowers (Some flowers can smell horrible, like mums. They almost make me sneeze).

Anyway, I'll update as soon as I can (But I should really be finishing my homework that's due Monday...).


	13. When trees attack

Thank you for the reviews! Haha! I'm updating because I only have a little homework (and it's easy).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Trees. Trees. More trees. And just for variety, very tall trees. Which blocked most of the sun's rays from reaching the ground below.

Riding on Ah-Un's back, Rin had her head tilted back, staring up at the surrounding forest.

Further ahead, Sesshomaru walked along, seemingly uninterested in the scenery. He hadn't spoken since the morning, and it was now late afternoon. Sesshomaru was silently marvelling at the fact that Rin hadn't said a word yet today. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder.

Rin was still staring up at the trees, as though silently amazed.

Sesshomaru settled his gaze forward again, wondering whether or not to be worried, or relieved about Rin's silence.

A few hours passed, and Rin still hadn't spoken.

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder at Rin. "Is something the matter Rin?"

Rin jumped at being addressed so suddenly. She then glanced around at the trees warily. "Will the trees come alive Lord Sesshomaru?" She had begun to think about it more and more.

Sesshomaru stared at Rin. Trees...come alive? That wouldn't happen...

Two hours later...

Sesshomaru was resting outside the forest, glaring back at the darkened place, Tokijin still clasped in his hand. The trees _had_ come alive. And Sesshomaru had to attack them to get out of the forest. Sesshomaru put Tokijin away, before walking off. No trees would ever harm_ him_.

Ah-Un followed, with Rin on its back. She was still staring back at the forest, amazed. The trees had come _alive_. Rin wondered if that would happen in any other forest.

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Yep, that was really random, but it made me laugh a bit while typing it. Please review if you liked it, or leave some kind of comment if you want.


	14. Stars

Thanks for the reviews! This chapter is a little bit more serious than the others, but some of it is funny.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin stared up at the starry night sky from where she was sitting on Ah-Un.

Nearby, Sesshomaru was standing in the field, also staring up at the starry sky.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Look over there! It looks like a rabbit!" Rin called excitedly. pointing at a cluster of stars.

Sesshomaru glanced in the direction, before staring off into space again. "..."

Rin clambered off of Ah-Un, and walked over towards Sesshomaru. The dragon watched her go, before curling up on the ground, and falling asleep (right on top of an unfortunatly 'being there at the wrong time' Jaken). Rin stood next to Sesshomaru, and glanced up at him. He was still staring off somewhere. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"..."

"Are you thinking about something?"

"..."

"Did you beat up Jaken today?"

"..."

"Did you fight with your brother again?"

"..."

Rin pouted, then trailed off back towards Ah-Un to rescue Jaken (whose muffled cries could now be heard). Maybe Sesshomaru didn't feel like talking today.

Sesshomaru continued to stare up at the sky, slightly glad Rin hadn't pestered him further. He looked away from the sky finally, and saw that Rin had fallen asleep, as had Jaken, who looked kind of squished for some reason. Sesshomaru looked to the sky once more, his expression changing slightly from a normally expressionless one. _'Father...' _

Sesshomaru shook his head, then stood over near Ah-Un and Rin, where he resumed staring silently up at the stars.

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Yep, pretty short again. Please review if you liked it or leave a comment about it if you want.

I wrote this because it's been cloudy out for the past couple days, and I've really been wanting to see the stars...anyway, I'll get another chapter up either later today or tomorrow morning(since I _had_ meant to update on the weekend).


	15. Demonic fish

Thnaks for the reviews! I appreciate it! I was going to update this morning, but I woke up too late. Anyway...

Discliamer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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After a somewhat melencholic night, a change of scenery was nice. Ah-Un had found a pool of water, complete with a mini waterfall (much to Rin's delight).

Jumping off of Ah-Un's back, Rin ran over to the pool and began leaping around in the shallow end.

Sesshomaru stayed nearby, but far enough away to avoid being splashed. Sesshomaru stared up at the sky. Why did Rin find jumping around in the water _fun_? He glanced back to see Rin heading towards the deeper water. Sesshomaru sighed. Why had he sent Jaken away again? He should really stop doing that.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Came Rin's panicked voice.

Sesshomaru strode quickly to the pool of water, where Rin was floundering in the deep end, with a dark shape circling beneath her. Without getting too wet, Sesshomaru managed to get Rin out of the water and onto dry land.

Rin smiled up at Sesshomaru. "That was fun! Can we do that again?"

Sesshomaru was busy staring at the shape in the water. It surfaced momentarily, before disappearing back into the depths. That was great. A demonic fish. What else would they run into today? More trees?

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

"...Yes?"

"Can I go swimming again? I'll stay in the shallow parts this time."

"No. We're leaving."

"...okay..." Rin ran over to Ah-Un, who was already standing up again, as if sensing that Sesshomaru had wanted to leave.

Sesshomaru led the way, wondering why, of all the pools in the area, they had chosen the one that contained a demonic fish.

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Another short chapter. Well, review it if you liked or have something to say about it. This probably won't get updated until the weekend, possibly later.


	16. Cavern

Thanks for the reviews! I know this chapter is short again (I'll try to get a longer one up for the next chapter). Anyway...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru headed towards cavern in the side of a mountain. He could just fly over it, but he really didn't feel like it today. Sesshomaru decided to pass through the small cavern he saw to get to the other side.

Behind him, Ah-Un followed, with Rin staring at the cavern nervously. She didn't want to go into the cavern. It looked dark and scary. But it should be fine if Sesshomaru was there. At least, she hoped so...

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder, to see Rin cowering against Ah-Un. He gave a light sigh. Of _course_ Rin didn't want to go through the cavern… He stopped walking, and turned around, approaching Rin, Ah-Un, and Jaken, who was walking alongside the dragon.

"Rin, get off of Ah-Un."

Rin did so, and watched as Sesshomaru instructed Jaken to take Ah-Un through the cave. Once he was gone with the dragon, Sesshomaru picked up Rin, and took to the sky. Within moments, he was on the other side of the mountain.

Sesshomaru allowed Rin to go play in a field of flowers nearby, then waited to see how long it took Jaken and Ah-Un to get through the cavern.

Minutes passed, and then Ah-Un emerged, a beaten up Jaken on its back.

Sesshomaru walked towards Rin without a word. Either Ah-Un had attacked Jaken, or something had attacked him in the cavern.

Rin ran up to Sesshomaru, showing him a handful of flowers that she had picked.

Sesshomaru was glad that he hadn't taken Rin through the cave, she would have been very frightened.

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That seemed kind of random, but I liked it anyway. So...please review and let me know what you thought of it or leave some kind of comment. I'll try to update when I can (and hopefully the next chapter will be longer).


	17. Lost and found

Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate it! It's great motivation. Anyway, I think this chapter is longer than previous ones.

After this chapter, I don't know when I'll update, since I've had a hard time thinking of new ideas. So, if people want me to update sooner, I'd appreciate any ideas/prompts/phrases that would help/inspire me to write new chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin yawned widely and turned over in her sleep. She was dreaming that she had found the biggest watermelon in the world, and was trying to figure out how to share it. Her dream self decided to share it with Sesshomaru and Jaken, and they were soon eating the juicy fruit. Rin licked her lips in her sleep and turned over again.

Across from the sleeping Rin, an irritable Jaken muttered furiously to himself. It was mostly about how lately, whenever Sesshomaru decided to go somewhere, he was left babysitting Rin. Jaken fell silent for a moment, before leaping up and running to the edge of the forest they were next to.

"Lord Sesshomaru! You've been making me watch Rin as a punishment for something I did! That's it! I know it is!" Jaken called out to the peaceful night. He complained for a few straight minutes, before turning around to check on Rin.

Who wasn't there anymore.

"Rin? Rin!" Jaken called. He glanced up at the sky, and saw some huge bird-like demon carrying off the sleeping Rin. While wondering why Ah-Un couldn't have been there that night, realization hit Jaken. "Sesshomaru isn't going to be happy…"

A calm voice spoke from behind. "Jaken…where's Rin?"

Jaken let out a little yelp, and turned around to find Sesshomaru staring down at him. Jaken threw himself to the ground, groveling, making up excuses as to why Rin wasn't there.

---

Two miles away, Rin awoke to find herself not on the ground, but in the air, being carried by an ugly bird demon.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Help!"

---

Even though the bird demon was getting further away, Sesshomaru still managed to hear Rin's cries for help. He glanced down at the still groveling Jaken. "Get Ah-Un, and wait here." With that, Sesshomaru left the area quickly.

Behind him, Jaken had hurried into the forest to locate Ah-Un. Tugging the reigns, Jaken led the dragon out of the forest, and settled down near a bolder. Jaken glanced up at the two-headed dragon. "I believe that losing Rin again may have shortened my life once more."

Ah-Un made a growl that seemed to be agreeing with Jaken's statement, before settling on the ground and dozing.

Jaken sighed miserably. Even the dragon agreed.

---

Sesshomaru reached a high cliff, where at the top he still heard faint cries from Rin. He stayed in the shadows as the bird demon flew over head. Once it had gotten far enough away, Sesshomaru scaled the cliff with ease, and located Rin fairly fast. He stopped in surprise when he found her.

Rin was playing...with two baby demon birds. Rin giggled happily as she played an odd game of tag with the demons, who seemed to be enjoying Rin's company.

Sesshomaru watched this for awhile. Why weren't the demons doing anything other than playing? Had the larger bird demon assumed that Rin would get eaten or something? Sesshomaru shook his head and approached Rin. Either way, he needed to get Rin away from this place before the bird-demon came back.

Rin noticed Sesshomaru and smiled. "Lord Sesshomaru! Do you want to play too?"

Sesshomaru stopped walking again. "No Rin, we need to leave."

Rin's smile disappeared for a moment, before smiling knowingly. "Okay. Is it because Jaken's hurt himself from all his sighing? I don't think it'd be good for anyone to do that a lot." She ran over to Sesshomaru, while waving good-bye to the two baby bird demons.

Minutes after Sesshomaru and Rin were gone, the large bird demon came back, not noticing that its babies were apparently happier than before.

In their own language, so that their parent wouldn't understand, they spoke in gibberish words.

The garbled words translated into something like this.

"Do you think she'll notice?"

"No...she always thought there were only two of us."

---

Back in the makeshift camp, Sesshomaru went to 'talk' to Jaken, while Rin pulled something from one of her sleeves. A tiny baby bird demon. Rin giggled as it nibbled one of her fingers. "You're so cute."

A few moments later, Sesshomaru came back fom his 'talk' with Jaken, and found Rin cooing over a little bird demon. Sesshomaru let out a weary sigh. Did this girl always have to do little things like this? He watched Rin talk to the demon, while pondering ways to have Rin get rid of it without upsetting her.

"Lord Sesshmaru! Look, look!" Rin ran up to him and showed the little demon bird, which spewed forth a small trickle of smoke.

Great. So when it got older it could breathe fire. Sesshomaru glanced around. Rin really shouldn't keep it, it could hurt her if it got bigger.

There was a loud roar, and all present glanced up to see the large bird demon soaring towards them.

Sesshomaru reached to draw out Tokijin, but paused as the demon landed and seemed to eye Rin, who had run over to it and was showing the little bird demon.

"Here. The other two wanted to get rid of it though..." Rin said.

The demon considered her for a moment, before carefully picking up the little bird demon and flying off.

Rin waved good-bye again, and the little bird demon seemed upset as it and its parent disappeared into the distance.

Sesshomaru watched the demon go with a measure of relief. At least the demon was gone, and Rin didn't seem too upset.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Want to hear about a dream I had?" Rin asked excitedly. "It was about a watermelon!"

Sesshomaru closed his eyes, but decided to listen, since he had been thinking about getting rid of the little bird demon in other ways, some which involved Tokijin.

The sword seemed irritated that he hadn't, but there was always some stupid demon that would more than likely show up soon.

Sure enough, minutes later Sesshomaru was fighting with a demon, while Rin and Jaken watched from a safe distance, along with a sleeping Ah-Un.

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Yay, I wrote a somewhat longer chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought about it or anything. Again, I'd be able to update sooner if I had some kind of prompt/idea/phrase that might spark more chapters from me.

Hum...I was also thinking of doing a request story or chapter for whoever gets the 100th review, since I've seen other people do that, and I do want to try and write a fic that someone requests. But if no one's really intersested, that's fine. It was just an idea. I would still update this story and others.

So, until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	18. Meeting

Thank you for the reviews! This chapter isn't as long as the last one, but longer than most of the chapters.

Inspiration for this chapter came from Dr. Dogma's suggestion. So, if anyone else has prompts/ideas/words/etc., let me know. I'd be able to update more frequently that way.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin sat in a meadow full of flowers, singing softly to herself as she picked a variety of colors. She glanced to her side and giggled.

Nearby, Jaken was laying flat on his back, snoring with his mouth wide open. But that was only partly why Rin was giggling.

Over the past hour, Rin had been making small bouquets of flowers, as well as making flower chains. After having noticed that Jaken had fallen asleep, Rin had placed flower chains around his neck and arms, then placed little bouquets all over him. Rin smothered her laughter. Jaken looked like a small garden with all of the flowers on him.

Rin went back to picking flowers. Maybe she should make a bouquet for Sesshomaru. Would he like it?

Loud shouts suddenly came from a small forest that was several hundred feet away from Rin.

The shouts died away, leaving Rin confused, but curious. Leaving the flowers near Jaken, she poked Ah-Un to get its attention. "I'm going over there for a little while. I'll be back soon, okay?" Seeing that the two-headed dragon seemed to nod in agreement, Rin dashed off towards the source of the noise.

A few minutes later…

Rin entered the small forest cautiously, and wandered around for a little while. But she didn't find anyone else that could have been making the shouts. Slight rustling to her right made Rin dive for cover behind a tree. She peered around it to see a small figure come out into a small clearing, muttering angrily as it rubbed its head.

"Stupid Inuyasha. I wonder if Kagome's making him sit again." There was a pause. "I hope she does. He shouldn't be so mean over something little like that."

Rin relaxed slightly. Since there didn't seem to be anything wrong, she came out of hiding. She saw that the speaker was a little fox demon. "Hello."

The little fox demon jumped at her voice and spun around. "Don't do that! You scared me!"

Rin smiled. "Sorry. My name's Rin. Who're you?"

"Shippo." The little fox demon replied. "What are you doing here all by yourself? There could be demons…other than me that is."

Rin giggled. "I'm not alone. I just came here to see what all the shouting was about."

Shippo scowled. "That was Inuyasha and Kagome arguing. After he hit me over the head." He paused. "Wait, you're the one that Kagome and Inuyasha mentioned awhile ago. The one that travels with Sesshomaru."

Rin smiled again. "Yep."

Shippo looked nervous for a moment, then relaxed when he realized that Sesshomaru wasn't anywhere nearby. "Hey, do you want to play? I wanted to stay away from the others while Kagome deals with Inuyasha anyway."

"Okay." Rin replied.

For the next few hours, Rin and Shippo played various games, including spinning tops and Rin requesting various things for Shippo to transform into. Soon, however, there was a shout.

"Rin! Rin! Where are you?" Came Jaken's panicked voice.

"Oh! I need to go!" Rin exclaimed.

"Me too. I think I hear Kagome. Bye." Shippo responded, running off.

"Bye!" Rin called over her shoulder, as she ran as well, straight out of the small forest and over to where Jaken was running around, stressed out.

Jaken scurried over to her. "Where were you?"

"I was playing and picking flowers." Rin replied. She was trying hard not to burst out laughing. Jaken was still wearing flower chains, and apparently hadn't noticed yet.

Rin looked past Jaken, and smiled. "Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru came over towards them, stopping near Ah-Un, while showing no reaction what so ever to Jaken's flowery appearance. "We're leaving." Was all he said.

Rin ran over to Ah-Un after Sesshomaru as he began to walk away. Rin grabbed a bouquet of flowers and scrambled onto the dragon's back. As soon as she did, Ah-Un began to walk.

A few minutes of silence passed, before…

"What the…?! Why am I covered in flowers?"

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Hmm...I liked writing this chapter. And again, yes, I know it was pretty short. Anyway, review if you like and leave some kind of comment. I'd appreciate it. I haven't written Shippo in a story before, but I might make another chapter where Rin runs into him if this turned out all right.

Although, the next chapter will have more Sesshomaru in it...I'm still pondering about what to write. So again, if anyone has suggestions, let me know in a review or a PM.

So, until the next chapter, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	19. Fever

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it! Hey, I updated (this story'll be updated, but probably at a slower rate, since I'm low on ideas).

This chapter came up after reading a suggestion from Sesshomaru'sBlueRose-Kaori, which, for some reason, made me think of the Inuyasha episode where Jaken gets ill. So, this chapter appeared. Not sure if other stories have used this idea, but anyway.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru watched Jaken scurry off to gather the information he wanted. It shouldn't take Jaken too long, so Sesshomaru would only be alone with Rin and Ah-Un for a few hours. Turning away from the rapidly diminishing Jaken, he headed back to where he had left Rin with the two-headed dragon. Sesshomaru located them easily, but noticed that something seemed a bit off.

Rin was curled up next to Ah-Un, and was shaking.

Sesshomaru blinked. It wasn't that cold out, was it? After determining that the weather was just fine, Sesshomaru approached Rin. He glanced at the two-headed dragon, but didn't get a response from it. Ignoring the dragon, Sesshomaru inspected Rin. There was defiantly something wrong, since by this time Rin was usually up and about and causing trouble.

After a few seconds went by, Sesshomaru realized that Rin had a fever, but didn't know what to do about it. After going through his options, Sesshomaru decided to go and find a village. Other humans would know what to do about a fever. Having Ah-Un carry Rin, Sesshomaru led the way until he found a village. Leaving Ah-Un in a nearby meadow, Sesshomaru carried Rin into the village.

Ignoring the villager's stares, Sesshomaru quickly glanced around until he found what he was looking for. There was usually a healer or someone that knew about illnesses to deal with them. As Sesshomaru entered the house, he wondered briefly if it would have been better to wait until night to enter the village.

The woman in the house appeared alarmed at Sesshomaru's sudden appearance, but when she saw Rin she calmed down slightly.

After a brief discussion, the woman took Rin into another room, and administered whatever kind of medicine that was required to cure a fever. While this was done, Sesshomaru loitered near the house's entrance, exchanging stares with a man who was most likely the woman's husband.

After a few minutes, the woman came out of the room. "She should be fine by tomorrow morning."

Sesshomaru nodded in acknowledgment, before stepping in the room, tiring of the man that had been staring at him. Shutting the door behind him, Sesshomaru stood near the wall, motionless.

Around midnight, Rin began to murmur in her sleep. Listening carefully, Sesshomaru found that some of the words turned out to be his name.

Sesshomaru glanced around. After seeing that no one was nearby, he walked over to Rin's bed and sat down on a chair next to it. He watched her for a moment as she moved around in her sleep. Sesshomaru held out his hand near her, and Rin grabbed it lightly. Sesshomaru's expression changed for a split second, before it stayed deadpan.

Sesshomaru fell into a light doze after awhile, but woke up a few hours later, freeing his hand from Rin's grasp.Sesshomaru moved silently back to where he had been standing earlier in the night.

The woman entered the room to check on Rin. She turned to Sesshomaru. "Her fever is gone, so she can leave when she wakes up."

Sesshomaru managed to give a nod of thanks before the woman left the room.

A few minutes later, Rin woke up. She glanced around in confusion, but smiled when she saw Sesshomaru. "Good morning!" She said cheerfully.

Sesshomaru aknowledged her with a nod, before heading for the home's exit. "We're leaving."

Rin scrambled out of bed to folow, still smiling.

The two left the village before the rest of its occupants awoke, and headed to the meadow where Sesshomaru had left Ah-Un.

The two-headed dragon was resting in the meadow, and got to it's feet upon seeing them. There was no sign of Jaken, who was no doubt still aquiring information.

As Rin climbed onto Ah-Un's back, Sesshomaru furrowed his eyebrows slightly. What was taking Jaken so long? It had been a very simple job...

---

Miles away, Jaken was being chased around by demons that he had been trying to talk to, but apparently they didn't appreciate dealing with little demons.

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I suppose the length was inbetween short and long. Oh well, hopefully it was all right. Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter or something. I'm still low on ideas, so if anyone has a phrase or idea or anything that might spark something, please let me know. Otherwise, this will be updated when I find another topic to write for a chapter.

Thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	20. Interlude II

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it! It helps me get motivated. I would have updated sooner, but I'm still running low on ideas, but hey, I updated! Amazing huh? ( I've decided that every ten chapters I'll make an interlude chapter, before attempting to make longer chapters).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin glanced over at Jaken, who was cowering behind Ah-Uh. He had just recently gotten there, as an enormous demon had just been holding Jaken in its grasp moments before. But then Sesshomaru had attacked the demon, and it relinquished its hold (somewhat reluctantly) on Jaken, who had immediately fled.

Rin glanced at a few of the flowers she was holding as Sesshomaru 'talked things out' with the demons. Meaning he used Tokijin whenever the demons hadn't agreed to something he said. Rin looked at Jaken again, then up at the silent Ah-Un. "Do you think flowers would cheer Jaken up?"

The two dragon heads stared at her, the only sound being a soft grumbling growl.

Apparently, it had answered Rn's question, because she replied. "Yes, I didn't think so either...Maybe Lord Sesshomaru would like them." Again, she looked up at the dragon, and again she seemed to think it answered her. "No, you're right. Maybe not right now. He's busy dealing with the naughty demons."

The 'naughty demons' were currently being driven off by Sesshomaru's Tokijin when one of the demons had said something stupid. Even though there were several demons that were larger, they didn't seem to fancy a fight with another obviously more powerful demon.

The one demon that had been grabbing Jaken looked disappointed as it ran off, but it stopped a short distance away and continued to stare at Jaken. Rin noticed this and went around Ah-Un to question Jaken about it.

"Why was that demon holding you? Did it like you, or did you make it angry?" Rin asked curiously.

Jaken mumbled something about her and how she was annoying and foolish, but had fallen silent.

Rin turned around and saw why. Sesshomaru had crossed the field somewhat quickly, ignoring the demon gazing at Jaken. He must have not thought that the demon was in any way dangerous. Sesshomaru stared at the three for a moment, before walking away. "We're leaving." Was all he said.

"Okay!" Rin said happily, and she led Ah-Un off.

Jaken trailed after them, but glanced behind when he thought he heard something. The demon that had had a grip on him was now moving and following at a distance, its eyes glittering. Jaken let out something between a yelp and a gasp, and turned again, running after the retreating figures ahead. "Wait for me!"

The demon stopped, and seemed to watch Jaken's disappearing figure with something like sadness in its eyes. It waited until Jaken was out of sight, before turning and heading towards a forest, seeming to be depressed now.

---

Later that night, Jaken seemed to turn deaf whenever Rin questioned him about the demon.

Rin found this change amusing, so bombarded Jaken with many questions, some of them absolutely ridiculous.

"Jaken, did you like the demon? Do you think it will follow us? Would you fight it? Should Sesshomaru find it before it gets you again? Why won't you say anything? Why do you frown all the time? Why are you a small demon? What color is the sky? What color is my hair. What're the shapes on Lord Sesshomaru's kimono? Can fish fly? Why does the sun disappear? Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not bothering you am I?"

"Of course you are silly girl! I'm just ignoring you."

"Why are you talking to me if you're ignoring me?"

"..."

"Master Jaken, why are you hitting your head?"

Sesshomaru didn't seem to care that Rin was bothering Jaken, or that Jaken was smacking his head against a tree. He was staring off into space, but it seemed as though a trace of a faint smile had passed across his face. "Jaken."

Jaken stopped hitting himself and glanced at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru indicated something in the distance. It was the demon again.

Without a word, Jaken ran over to Ah-Un, and was soon disappearing into the night sky. The demon came closer and watched Jaken leave in silence. Then, the demon noticed another demon, and went over to it. The two left the area.

Rin was confused and looked at Sesshomaru. "Lord Sesshomaru? Where's Jaken going?"

Sesshomaru walked off, and Rin followed after him. She assumed that he was going to find Jaken.

---

They did find Jaken the next day. Ah-Un was curled up, and Jaken was seeming to try and drown himself in a waterfall.

But that wasn't what Rin saw. She seemed to think Jaken was playing. "Good idea Master Jaken!" Giggling, Rin ran forward and jumped into the shallow pool of water.

Sesshomaru stood silently next to Ah-Un, and he and the dragon heads seemed to exchange looks.

"Lord Sesshomau! You should get in too! Jaken likes the water!"

"..."

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Yeah, kinda weird, but it was what came to mind. Review if you'd like. I'll attempt to get another chapter up sooner.

Right now it'll either be Rin waking Sesshomaru up in the middle of the night (would be around 1000 words at most) or having Rin meet up with Shippo again, but this time Sesshomaru would run into him as well, and possibly Inuyasha and the others too (this would be around 1000 to1200 words-maybe more). Those are the two I'm working on, so if anyone has a preference as to which one should come first, let me know and I'll focus on that one to get it done. If not, it'll be whichever one is finished first.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	21. Stars 2

Thank you for the reviews! I got this one finished fairly quick, since it seemed that people wanted this one to be next. So, here it is. And yes, I know I've done a chapter with stars in it. But I think this one is better.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin stared up at the star filled sky in silence. She was sitting near a fire that had been reduced to softly glowing embers._ 'It must be_ _late.'_ Rin thought as she glanced around the small clearing. A soft snore caused Rin to jump, but then she realized that it was only Jaken, who was on the opposite side of the fire.

Rin stood up and stared at the small demon for a moment._ 'Wasn't Master Jaken supposed to be keeping watch?'_ Rin gazed at her surroundings. The clearings' outskirts were surrounded by small trees, and beyond the trees there was a river. _'Where did Lord_ _Sesshomaru go?'_ Rin wondered. Taking one more glance at the snoring Jaken, Rin snuck off through the trees to see if she could find Sesshomaru.

---

After a few minutes, Rin was at the river's edge, but upon inspection, Sesshomaru didn't seem to be in the area. Rin frowned faintly. Hadn't Sesshomaru said he'd be back a bit after nightfall? Rin walked along the river edge until she saw a figure in the distance.

Once Rin was close enough, she discovered that it was Sesshomaru, who was lying on his back, sleeping, Tokijin grasped lightly in his hand. Rin saw what suspiciously looked like an arm lying several yards away. Rin thought that he must have fought some demons and decided to stay here for the night.

Rin sat down on the ground next to Sesshomaru's right side. Rin stared at him for a moment, before holding back a giggle. Even in his sleep Sesshomaru wore a faint frown. Rin wasn't sure whether or not to wake Sesshomaru up, but decided that she'd be able to sleep more soundly if he were closer to the clearing she had been in before. Having Jaken fall asleep during his watch wasn't very comforting in the least bit..

Rin moved a bit closer, and poked Sesshomaru's shoulder lightly. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"..." Sesshomaru slept on, oblivious. Or so it seemed.

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked again, this time prodding a little harder. Was Sesshomaru _really_ asleep? Wouldn't he have noticed he by now?

"..." Sesshomaru made no movements. He _was_ actually awake, and was currently wondering what on _earth_ Rin was doing up this late at night, and _why_ she was poking him. He had been sleeping here until he had awakened after seemingly sensing a presence. After figuring out who it was, Sesshomaru made no movements whatsoever to get up. He decided to wait and see if she'd leave.

"Lord Sesshomaru...I fell asleep but woke up. You weren't around, and Jaken was sleeping. So, I went looking for you." Rin said, wondering if Sesshomaru would wake up if she talked enough. Rin looked away for a second, during which the frown on Sesshomaru's face became more pronounced, irritated that Jaken had fallen asleep. What if there had been demons nearby?

Sesshomaru sensed Rin standing up. Good, once she went back, he'd get up and, after making sure there were no more demons, he'd go back to the clearing as well. Only, Rin didn't leave. She climbed onto him and sat on his chest, leaning over and staring down at his face. It was rather...uncomfortable. It wasn't her weight on him (she was too light to interrupt his breathing) but it was how close she was leaning over his face to stare at him. Surely humans didn't need to get_ this_ close to someone to try and talk to them or wake them up.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru decided to wake up, mostly wanting to get her off of him. Sesshomaru's eyes opened, and he and Rin stared at each other for a moment. There was silence, then...

Rin smiled and hopped off of Sesshomaru. She waited until he was in sitting position to speak. "Good morning Lord Sesshomaru! Were you fighting demons?" She indicated the ominous arm that had suddenly decided to wriggle of its own accord. She hadn't noticed of course.

Sesshomaru was on his feet as soon as the arm decided to defy distances and suddenly appear near Rin, hand poised to seize her. Sesshomaru grabbed Rin and slung her onto his back, and in the same movement, managed to slice and get rid of the arm. He stalked off along the river side, before hopping up onto a rocky ledge that was half in and out of the water.

Rin slid down from his back and plopped down next to a silent Sesshomaru staring at the skies.

"..."

Rin looked up at the sky as she settled against the white fur that went over Sesshomaru's shoulder. Once she was comfortable, she gazed up at the sky. "The stars are very pretty." Rin commented.

"..."

"They're like pictures...remember last time? That one looks like a wolf or a dog." Rin glanced at Sesshomaru, then back at the twinkling stars. "Lord Sesshomaru...where did the stars come from? Did someone put them there, or have they always been there?"

"...they've always been there."

"Do you know where they came from?"

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin looked back at Sesshomaru, whose gaze was fixed on the stars. For a moment, Rin thought she saw something akin to sadness in his eyes. But it was gone in an instant. "Rin."

"Yes?"

"You should get some sleep."

"Here?"

"..."

"Okay." Rin curled up next to Sesshomaru, and fell asleep holding the fur.

Sesshomaru continued to gaze up at the stars, acting as though he expected an unspoken question to be answered.

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Hey, another somewhat long chapter. Was it what you were expecting? I had added the star part, since I had initially written this at night. In the past few days I have written out many ideas for this that suddenly came to mind. So, if you let me know which one you'd want to see sooner, I'll get that one done before the others. Anyway, here are three:

1- Rin meets up with Shippo, but Sesshomau and Inuyasha and Co. find them (Around 1,000-1,200 words or more)

2- Rin attempts to cheer up Jaken, before and after Sesshomaru leaves them for awhile (as long as it's take to write it out)

3- Sesshomaru and Co. deal with would be robbers while traveling on a mostly unused path (who knows how long it'll be)

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	22. Robbers?

Thank you for the reviews! I updated (finally). This chapter is one of the two that people wanted to see, and hopefully I'll get the other chapter up in the next day or so (I just need to finish editing and stuff).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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It was early in the morning, and Ah-Un was trailing dutifully after Sesshomaru. The group had been traveling since the previous night, and only Ah-Un and Sesshomaru appeared to be fully awake and alert. Jaken was walking along half asleep, hitting himself occasionally with his own staff as it slipped from his grip every so often. Rin however, was sound asleep on the dragons' back.

Not a word had passed since the evening, when the area they had chosen to sleep was already occupied by very angry ogres and a few wolves. The area had been cleared as quickly as possible. Since then, Jaken had wisely stayed silent, sensing Sesshomaru's irritation.

And even though it wasn't showing, Sesshomaru was getting ruffled more and more as the hours slipped by. At the moment, Sesshomaru was trying to find an excuse to abuse Jaken (but was unable to, since Jaken hadn't done anything wrong recently to merit a beating). After thinking about this, Sesshomaru decided to try and find a place to stop and rest. The path they were on was quiet, which was nice for a change. Sesshomaru spotted a stream up ahead. Perhaps that would be a good place to stop...

"Halt!" A loud, irksome voice called out. Of course the peace wouldn't last.

Sesshomaru continued to walk as if he heard nothing. He only stopped when several men, presumably robbers, decided to block the path.

"Think yer high and mighty huh?" One asked.

"..." Sesshomaru stared at the trees. How best to deal with the stupid little humans...

"Hey! We're talking to you!" Another snapped.

"...Move." Sesshomaru slowly transferred his gaze to the men.

The men exchanged glances.

"Not 'til you hand over your valuables." The robber swung a dagger around in the air.

Sesshomaru turned and went over to Ah-Un.

There were some jeers.

"Hey! Running away?"

"Scared are you?"

Stupid, foolish robbers...

Sesshomaru took the slumbering Rin off of Ah-Un's back and set her on the ground next to an almost asleep Jaken. Then, with a few swift movements, removed the muzzles from Ah-Un. There was a pause, before Ah-Un bolted towards the would be robbers, who scattered in fear at the snarling dragon.

Sesshomaru hid a faint smirk and picked up the still asleep Rin, as he aimed a kick a Jaken, who immediately came to and looked around wildly, staff flailing.

"What? Who? Where? Oh...Oh...not here." Jaken lowered the staff and shook his head. "Just a dream." He muttered.

Sesshomaru walked off, and settled down by the stream. Soon, Rin woke up.

"Morning Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin said brightly as she went over to the stream. She paused to see a few men still being chased by Ah-Un. "What's Ah-Un chasing them for?"

"..." Sesshomaru decided to not reply. He was busy trying to decide whether or not to join Ah-Un.

Ah-Un snapped playfully at the robbers, who were terrified. It could keep this going for as long as it wanted. It would enjoy chasing them too.

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Somewhat shorter, but longer than 500 words. Next one'll be over 1000 words. I'll put up more ideas at the end of the next chapter. So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	23. Interruptions

Thank you for the reviews! See? I updated sooner. This actually did turn out longer than I thought (over 1,200), and it also gave me another idea of what to do for a story. So, before I forget to ask, would anyone be interested in seeing something similar to this story, but with Inuyasha and co.? Of course, _this_ story would still be updated as long as I keep having new ideas. Just a thought.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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The forest's trees were tall and full of leaves, making the light from the sun come through wherever it could. Because of this, it seemed to be permanently either dawn or dusk, depending on what time of day it was. The animals that lived there kept out of view most of the time, not wanting to be caught out in the open. One person didn't seem to care about the gloomy atmosphere.

Rin skipped along the thin forest path, humming a song happily. Sesshomaru had allowed her to go and explore again, as long as it wasn't very far away. And as long as Jaken went along to keep an eye on her. Jaken was currently scurrying after Rin, trying to keep up. Unknown to either, they were being followed...

...By Sesshomaru, who was walking a fair distance away, wondering why Rin was so happy this early in the morning. She had been acting a bit differently for the past few days, but was always quite happy to go off an explore the forest. And he couldn't figure out why. Somewhat intrigued, Sesshomaru had decided to follow the girl and see what she had been up to the past few days in this forest.

---

Rin, after successfully ditching Jaken, emerged into a small clearing that had a mini waterfall at one side of the enclosure. Rin sat down next to the pool that formed from the waterfall and looked down at her reflection for a bit. Soon, there was a rustling sound coming from behind her, but Rin didn't react. She seemed to have been waiting for that to happen. "You're late Shippo." Rin turned around and smiled at the small fox demon, whose tail twitched irritably.

"I was trying to think up another excuse to tell the others so that I could go off on my own." Shippo explained.

"Well, you're here, so you must have found one." Rin replied, smiling.

"Well...actually..." Shippo muttered, shuffling his feet. "I snuck off. Hopefully they won't notice that I've gone. I think they were still asleep."

Rin's smile faded. "Oh...maybe you should go back and let them know where you've gone. You don't want them to worry, do you?" Rin asked.

Shippo thought for a moment before speaking. "Nah, it's okay. It's not too far to where the others are. If they wake up before I get back, Inuyasha'll be able to tell where I am."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Well, want to play then?"

"Yes."

---

Kagome was back at school, and had just taken a test. She was _sure_ she would ace it. She had studied very hard this time. She just _knew_ she would pass. The results came...almost too quickly...and then...she screamed. She failed!! _No_!! This couldn't be happening! She couldn't have just failed! There was no way...what was going on?! She closed her eyes and shook her head. Not happening! Not happening! Dimly, Kagome heard voices calling to her.

"Kagome!"

"Wake up!"

_Wake up_? Kagome wondered. _Then this is a..._

Kagome's eyes flickered open and found herself staring up at the worried faces of Sango and Miroku. "What?" She asked.

"You were having a nightmare." Sango said simply.

"And you kept saying about how it couldn't be happening." Miroku added.

Kagome ran a hand over her face, then brushed her hair out of her face. "Well, at least it was only a dream..." Kagome looked back at the other two. "What are you two doing up so early?"

"Miroku had watch, and he saw Shippo leave the camp a few minutes ago. He woke me up and we decided to tell you first before mentioning anything around Inuyasha." Sango explained.

"Why's that?" Kagome asked.

"There's a demonic aura further in the forest. But it doesn't seem to be malevolent, at least not yet." Miroku responded, as Sango nodded in agreement.

"I see." Kagome said. She was slightly distracted by the slap mark on Miroku's face. He must have scared Sango when he woke her up. Or did something stupid after she had woken up. Kagome assumed the latter.

"...Kagome?" Sango questioned.

"Yes?"

"We should go and find Shippo before Inuyasha wakes up." Sango replied.

"Oh! Right!" Kagome got up and retrieved her bow and arrows. "Just in case." She said after seeing the looks she received. Then, she, Sango and Miroku left camp, believing that Inuyasha was still asleep. They didn't notice a red and white blur go by, dashing and leaping through the forest at a fairly fast speed.

---

Sesshomaru continued on his way at a leisurely pace, finding no reason to be going any faster. Rin wasn't in any danger, since he couldn't sense any demons nearby. Well...he _did_ sense a small amount of demonic power, but dismissed it. It couldn't be anything dangerous. Besides, it would probably run off as soon as it sensed him.

Another minute or so passed, before Sesshomaru paused, wrinkling his nose faintly. This scent...was familiar. He could tell that Rin was with the smaller demonic presence he had sensed earlier. But, the scent he identified now belonged to none other than his irritating, half-breed younger brother. Who was currently moving at a very fast pace in Rin's direction.

Sesshomaru began to move again, but was now moving along at a pace faster than a walk. He wasn't in any hurry, and once Inuyasha sensed his presence, he would more than likely want a fight.

---

Inuyasha _had_ picked up Sesshomaru's scent, and drew Tetsusaiga as soon as he entered the small clearing. He found Rin and Shippo giving him surprised looks. All present turned their attention to the other side of the clearing , where Sesshomaru emerged, looking completely unconcerned that Inuyasha's sword was drawn.

Before Inuyasha had time to open his mouth and say an insult or something, Sesshomaru moved quickly, disarming him and knocking Inuyasha into the pool of the waterfall.

While this happened, Rin and Shippo were saying hasty good-byes. They stopped when Kagome, Sango and Miroku entered the clearing as well.

"Hello Rin." Kagome said with a smile.

"Hi!" Rin replied, smiling as well.

Everyone fell silent as Sesshomaru and Inuyasha fought with each other (most of which involved Sesshomaru knocking Inuyasha repeatedly into the water, increasing the other's temper).

Kagome noticed that Sesshomaru seemed to get bored of this, and sure enough, a few seconds later, he had turned around and walked off towards the trees, speaking only one word. "Rin."

"I guess we're leaving." Rin said, then turned to Shippo. "See you later. Bye!" She ran over towards Sesshomaru, as Shippo called his good-byes after her.

Inuyasha got out of the pool, dripping wet. "Hey! Where're you going? We're not finished!"

Sesshomaru cast him a withering glance, but said nothing.

Which made Inuyasha even angrier than he already was. "Say something! No? Then come on! I'm not finished yet!"

Kagome sighed wearily. "Inuyasha...SIT!"

"Wah!" Inuyasha slammed into the ground. He muttered something as he struggled upright. In time to see the faint look of amusement pass across Sesshomaru's face. "What are you smiling at, you...!"

"SIT!!" Kagome snapped, before glancing over at Sesshomaru, who merely turned and walked off, with Rin following after him.

Once they were gone, Kagome turned her attention to the hole in the ground.

"Why'd you let them go?" Came Inuyasha's muffled voice. He got up out of the hole to find Kagome stalking off back to camp. Saying something under his breath, Inuyasha followed her once he retrieved his sword.

Miroku and Sango trailed after them, both silent. Shippo had decided that he didn't want to walk, so he was now on Miroku's shoulder. Shippo shook his head. "It's going to be one of those days..."

A faint cry of 'sit' and loud protests from Inuyasha rang out.

"It seems that way." Sango answered.

"Indeed." Miroku agreed.

---

Sesshomaru headed for the makeshift camp they had been at for the past few days. Once there, Rin was content to pick flowers that were growing near a rock as she sang softly.

Sesshomaru now knew what Rin had been up to, and it seemed to be all right, except that the small demon was traveling with Inuyasha. What to do... Well, he'd figure it out later. At the moment, something seemed to be amiss, but Sesshomaru couldn't think of what. It took him over an hour to realize that Jaken was missing. He hadn't been with Rin or that small demon...

---

Miles away...

"Lord Sesshomaru? Lord Sesshomaru? Rin? Where are you?" Jaken called as he walked along. He was getting more and more lost by the minute. Luckily for him, Ah-Un, who had been mysteriously absent until now, was trailing after him to bring him back to camp.

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Much longer than the last chapter no? Review if you'd like. I think this turned out fairly well. I have a few ideas for the next chapter, so here they are:

1- Traveling past some active volcanoes, Sesshomaru has to deal with a few demons to get by (Not sure how long this would be).

2- Rin finds a coin on the ground and since there's no one around, wonders what to get with it- a little twist towards the end (as long as it needs to be).

3- A one or two part blizzard related chapter (two shorter chapters (around 700 words) or one longer, drawn out chapter).  
(I do have more ideas still).

And if anyone was at all interested about another drabbles, etc. story with Inuyasha and the others, just let me know. I've been considering it for awhile, but more so after writing this chapter.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	24. Coin

Thank you for the reviews! I really appreciate it. I hope to keep updating this story once or twice a week. This is the coin chapter, and the next chapter will be the volcano one, since it was almost a tie. There were a few votes for the blizzard idea, so I might do that one after the volcano chapter. But I'll see what happens after typing up the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru walked across a meadow, unconsciously taking a short cut. He didn't really have a destination in mind, but he kept on going anyway. He had been doing that for the past several days.

Behind Sesshomaru, several feet away, Rin walked along happily. Occasionally, she'd glance down at the ground to pick up little flowers that caught her attention. She hadn't really wondered where they were headed, but it was only a matter of time before she asked.

Almost right behind Rin was Jaken, who was leading Ah-Un. The dragon shook its heads irritably. Jaken was pulling on the reigns too much. It couldn't take it any longer! Jaken wasn't paying any attention to what he was doing.

"Wahh!" Jaken exclaimed as the dragon swung its heads to one side, flinging Jaken though the air to land several hundred feet away.

"Oh! Are you all right Master Jaken?" Rin called, running over to where Jaken had fallen.

Ah-Un shook its heads gratefully, but didn't move from its spot. It had noticed that Sesshomaru had stopped walking, apparently to wait for the other two.

Rin poked the dazed Jaken until he got up and tottered in the direction of Ah-Un, and to where his staff was laying on the ground. Rin started to follow, but came to a halt when she saw something shiny on the ground. It was a coin! Rin picked it up and glanced around. There was nobody around other than them, so that meant she could keep the coin, right?

Sesshomaru finally turned around to see what was going on. His face betrayed no emotion as Jaken struggled to take the staff that one of the dragons' front forepaws was holding onto. Sesshomaru made no movement to help, as he turned his attention to Rin, who was running towards him, waving something shiny. A coin or something of the sort.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Lord Sesshomaru! Look what I found!" Rin called, coming to a halt next to Sesshomaru's side. She held up the coin for him to inspect. "Can I keep it?"

Sesshomaru looked at the coin, then swept his gaze over the surrounding meadow. There wasn't anyone around for miles. His golden eyes turned back to Rin and her hopeful expression, before inclining his head slightly in agreement with her question.

Rin smiled brightly, before hurrying over to Ah-Un and Jaken. "Be nice Ah-Un."

The dragon reluctantly relinquished the staff from its paw, which Jaken hurriedly took, before the dragon changed its mind.

Rin clambered up onto Ah-Un's back, and it began to walk, leaving Jaken behind to follow.

Sesshomaru ignored this, and began to walk again. He half listened to Rin's conversation with Ah-Un and Jaken.

"What should I get with this coin Master Jaken?" Rin questioned.

"..."

"Master Jaken?"

"..." Jaken tripped and fell on his face. He scrambled up, appearing embarrassed, and ignored Rin further, while attempting to grab Ah-Un's reigns (which the dragon managed to keep just out of reach).

Rin turned her questions to Ah-Un. "Ah-Un, should I get some clothing or use it to get something to eat?"

There were muffled growls.

Rin nodded. "You're right, I should wait and see. I'll know what to do with it when the time's right."

Sesshomaru's head tilted ever so slightly. Did Rin think that she was communicating with the dragon? Perhaps he should talk to her more often, if she was resorting to conversing with Ah-Un. Or maybe threaten Jaken if he didn't talk to her more often. Or even at least pretend that he was listening.

"Lord Sesshomaru? Where are we going?" Rin asked from her place on Ah-Un's back.

"..." Sesshomaru didn't respond, because he was trying to figure out if there were any villages or towns nearby.

---

After two hours of traveling, Sesshomaru was hidden in the shadows of some trees several hundred paces from a fairly large village. He presumed it must be some kind of town that dealt with trading from all over. Sesshomaru watched as Jaken led Ah-Un away to avoid being seen by any human that might be nearby. Once they were out of view, Sesshomaru led an excited Rin towards the village.

Many pairs of eyes followed the two's progress. A tall, regal-looking man with a cute little girl walking alongside him, brimming with excitement. Whispers whirled around, but Sesshomaru ignored them, while Rin was oblivious (she was thinking about how much the coin could be worth and what she might get with it).

Rin looked through many items at different shops. A few times she spotted something that caught her interest, but ultimately decided against it and went onto the next shop.

Sesshomaru followed close-by, wondering if all humans took so long to decide on simple matters. He and Rin were now passing by an alleyway, which Rin stopped at. Sesshomaru came to a halt as Rin stared down the alley. She seemed to be thinking about something. Sesshomaru came a little closer to see what Rin was looking at.

There was a boy around the same age as Rin, and he was comforting two other children younger than him. All seemed very thin, but the older of the three was attempting to be upbeat about the problems they had.

Rin finally seemed to make up her mind, as she walked over to the older boy, who seemed surprised to see her.

"Yeah? What do you want?" He asked gruffly, trying to appear tough. He hadn't noticed Sesshomaru at all. If he had, he wouldn't have said anything at all, and would be running in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

Rin ignored the rude tone and held out the coin. "Here. You can have this."

The two younger children stared at the coin in shock, as the older boy took the coin with a shaky hand. He looked as though he were wondering whether this was a joke or not. After realizing it wasn't, he seemed lost for words. Staring at the coin, he finally spoke. "Do you know how much this is worth? Are you sure we can have this?" The rough tone had vanished.

Rin smiled. "Of course."

"T...thanks." The boy stared at the coin, before turning to the other two. "Come on you guys, let's go!"

Rin watched them run off, then she turned back and beamed up at Sesshomaru, who was hiding faint surprise. "Are we going to leave now Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru turned and walked off. Rin followed, still very cheerful.

As they exited the city and went to find Ah-Un and Jaken, Sesshomaru had a sudden thought. Did Rin think that he'd buy things for her that she needed? She usually found food on her own (accompanied by Jaken). Rin seemed to be quite content to just be traveling with him. She never really asked for anything...

"Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru glanced up ahead to see Rin waving at him from next to Ah-Un. With a light shake of his head, Sesshomaru walked past the dragon, Rin, and Jaken, to take the lead. He didn't know where exactly he was going, but it didn't matter for now. Though he did step up the pace when Ah-Un seemed to think that Jaken could become its personal chew toy (even though the muzzles were on).

"No Ah-Un, leave Master Jaken alone!"

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Hopefully this chapter turned out all right. It was shorter than the last one, but over 1,000 words. Review if you'd like. I should get the volcano chapter up in the next day or so.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	25. Volcano

Thank you for the reviews! This is the volcano chapter, which I edited several times because words kept being misspelled for some reason. Or caps locked when it shouldn't have been. Anyway, the blizzard chapter's going to be delayed since I lost the sheet of paper I outlined the chapter on. I'll put it up once I find it again.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Intense heat. Bubbling lava threatening to spill over the edge of the grounds retaining it. Volcanoes all around, smoking as if they were going to explode and cover the ground and anything on it at any moment.

Rin glanced around her surroundings nervously. She didn't like the look of one of the volcanoes that was spewing forth boiling hot lava. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"What is it?" Sesshomaru responded without turning around.

Rin clutched Ah-Un's reigns tightly and asked softly. "How long will we be here?"

"It matters to you?" Came the response.

Rin held onto Ah-Un's mane for extra support. "No, I don't mind. It's just that..." Rin drifted off.

"...What?" Sesshomaru asked, wondering what was wrong with Rin now. She didn't usually question where they were going or how long it would take...well, she did anyway...

"...It's that it's...very hot here Lord Sesshomaru." Came the small voice.

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder slightly, enough that he could see Rin, but that so she wouldn't notice the movement. Rin was looking very miserable, and Sesshomaru realized that the temperature of this place was affecting her. He should of known better. No human in their right mind would live right next to active volcanoes that are within touching range.

They were traveling past active volcanoes, since it was the quickest way to get to a village that may have some information on Naraku. It wasn't a very reliable source, but it was better than nothing. Any clues, no matter how small, would be followed.

And since Sesshomaru didn't think it was going to be dangerous, he decided to allow Rin to come along. But he had forgotten that she was a human, and that they didn't fare too well in very hot or cold temperatures. At least they were more than halfway through...

Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder again as he suddenly thought of something. He hadn't heard Jaken voice his opinions about the current situation. Sesshomaru spotted Jaken further behind, but turned back and kept on walking as if he hadn't seen anything unusual or out of the ordinary.

Jaken was hoping up and down, looking like he was doing a strange jig. On the inside, Jaken was thinking. _'Ow! Ow! Hot! Hot! Owowow!!'_

Rin noticed this finally and watched Jaken for a moment. Then, she asked, "Master Jaken! Why don't you get on Ah-Un's back too?"

Jaken ignored her suggestion as he snapped back. "I'm quite capable of walking on this ground. What do you take me for?!"

"But, Master Jaken, your feet are smoking!" Rin pointed out.

And Jaken's feet were indeed smoking.

"Ahhh!" Jaken yelped out, as he hurriedly scrambled onto Ah-Un's back behind Rin. He attempted to fan his singed feet.

Once Rin saw that Jaken would stay on the dragon as well, she turned her attention back to her surroundings again.

Sesshomaru kept on walking, not seeming to pay any attention anymore to what was going on behind him as he focused on what lay ahead. There was something malevolent in the air, but Sesshomaru couldn't pinpoint it at the moment.

Sesshomaru, as well as Ah-Un, didn't seem to be affected by the intense heat radiating around them. Whether they were tolerating it or not remained a mystery. Ah-Un actually seemed to be enjoying it.

After another five minutes of nothing interesting happening, Sesshomaru could tell that they were getting very close to the exit, and would soon emerge into cooler lands. Sesshomaru's hand strayed towards Tokijin. But now that they were so close to the exit, Sesshomaru was now sensing the malevolent force again, and could now tell that it belonged to three demons.

This didn't bother Sesshomaru too much, but the demons would probably have thick armor-like hides if they could survive in conditions like these. He could easily take care of them, but Rin could get caught up in the battle that seemed to be imminent.

"Jaken." Sesshomaru said quietly.

"Oh! Yes?" Jaken left off trying to cool his feet.

"Get Ah-Un into the air. Other demons are near." Seshomaru stated in the same quiet voice.

Rin couldn't hear what Sesshomaru had said, but she did see him draw Tokijin. Which meant there was about to be trouble. Rin held tightly onto Ah-Un as Jaken got the dragon to go up into the air. And not a moment too soon, as a blast of demonic energy hit the ground right where they had been seconds earlier.

Sesshomaru dodged two more blasts, then a third, larger one with ease. He landed lightly on the ground, and calmly located the attacking demons.

There were three of them, and they were all leering evilly at Sesshomaru, thinking that they had caught him off guard. One of the three demons, a wolf-like one with armor, spoke. "You're trespassing on our land. It was foolish of you to even think of trying to pass. Turn back if you don't want to try our power. You have been warned."

Sesshomaru stared at the demons, and they stared back. "..." There was a long silence, and no one spoke except for Rin and Jaken.

"Oh! It's much nicer and cooler up in the air. Don't you think so Master Jaken?" Rin asked, stroking Ah-Un's mane with one hand, while holding onto the reigns with the other.

"Of course it is silly girl."

Rin gazed down at where Sesshomaru and the demons were just staring at one another. "What are they doing? Are they going to fight?"

Jaken peered down with a slight frown. "Hmm...I can't tell..." He then caught sight of Sesshomaru's expression...smiling faintly. "Oh!" Jaken urged Ah-Un to move, trying to get the dragon to fly past the last few volcanoes and to land in the small valley further away.

"Where are we going?" Asked a bewildered Rin. She glanced backwards and the last thing she saw was Sesshomaru and the demons still staring at one another. _'Lord Sesshomaru...'_

---

Sesshomaru watched as Ah-Un flew off, out of range of any attack that might be used. He turned back to the demons that were still mouthing off at him. Who did these fools think they were? Trying to tell him what to do...

A particular statement not to be repeated had Sesshomaru draw out Tokijin. These demons must have very few brain cells. He'd have to put them out of their misery.

---

Rin was drinking from a stream, as did Ah-Un, though it seemed to be hoping that there were fish in it. It was pawing at the water with one of its forearms. Jaken was laying nearby with his feet in the air, sighing happily as the cool breezes buffeted them. It was hard to believe that they had been traveling in a volcanic area moments before. Neither Jaken nor Rin noticed the flash of blue light from near where they had just left.

Moments later, Sesshomaru walked calmly out of the volcanic area, looking utterly calm and composed. Behind him, smoke rose in the air ominously from where he had come from. Sesshomaru took a seat on a nearby bolder, and was silent as Ah-Un, Rin, and Jaken continued what they were doing.

There was a slight diversion as Ah-Un managed to catch several fish, and dropped them on shore.

Rin spotted them and exclaimed. "Dinner!"

Jaken had recovered enough to start a fire, but stayed far enough away from it so that he wouldn't get burned. Rin sat nearby, waiting patiently as the fish were cooking. Once they were done, Rin began to enjoy it.

Sesshomaru was still sitting on the boulder, and hadn't said a word since leaving the volcanoes.

"Ah...Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken asked. He stiffened slightly as golden eyes turned to stare at him. "Are we going to be staying here for the night?" The sun was already setting. After seeing a nod of consent from Sesshomaru, Jaken went back over to the fire.

Rin played for awhile after eating, before curling up next to Ah-Un, who was already dozing slightly, heads resting comfortably on the ground.

Sesshomaru transferred his gaze to Rin, who fell asleep rather quickly. Sesshomaru blinked as Rin shivered and drew closer to the dragon. Why was she cold when she had been in a very hot place for most of the day? Sesshomaru glanced in the direction of the village he had been trying to reach. They could go there in the morning...

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Hey, and this chapter was longer than the last one. Anyway, review if you'd like. I have three more ideas that I've started to type up, so if you have a preference to what one you'd like to read first, let me know.

1- A chapter that centers around an enourmous waterfall that the group finds while traveling (no idea how long it'll be).

2- A chapter where the group actually travels through a cavern and see crystals as they go (would be more content than just that).

3- Rin has some type of animal follow her around for the day (there'd be more to this one as well).

Or if it should be something else, I'll see what I can come up with. So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	26. Waterfall

Thank you for the reviews! The waterfall chapter was finished first. The next one will be the animal following Rin, and it will be longer than this one. After that it'll be the cavern chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin was dozing on Ah-Un's back as the dragon walked along. Rin almost drifted to sleep when she heard a faint roaring. Rin came wide awake and sat up straight on Ah-Un. Rin glanced nervously in the direction they were headed. She wondered why the roaring sound wasn't bothering Sesshomaru. He was as calm as ever, despite walking without stopping for over a day.

Sesshomaru was quite unconcerned, as were Jaken and Ah-Un. A few more moments of uneasiness passed, before Sesshomaru spoke. "What is it Rin?"

"What's that roaring noise? Is it a demon?" Rin fidgeted nervously with Ah-Un's reigns.

Sesshomaru continued to walk as he spoke. "It is not a demon." Of _course_ Rin couldn't sense what was a demon and what wasn't from a sound alone (although sometimes it was obvious, especially if the demon was very close by).

"What is it then Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin questioned, curious.

"..."

---

Rin got her answer a few minutes later, when Sesshomaru led the group into a clearing. By now the roaring had already increased in volume, until it was hard to hear.

The source? A waterfall. An enormous one, where the top of the waterfall was very tiny. The water pounded down in torrents, into the pool below, spraying water everywhere.

Rin's head was tilted up, wide eyes taking in the sight. The mist from the waterfall was covering the entire area, but Sesshomaru didn't seem to care. Ah-Un had its heads tilted up, attempting to catch the mist.

Only Jaken seemed to be unhappy, and he let everyone know it.

"If we stay here too long, we'll all be drenched!" Jaken yelled over the roar of the falls. Jakens' answer was a punt into the water.

Rin watched with faint interest, as well as concern, as Jaken floundered around until he scrambled out of the water. Once out, he sulked near Ah-Un with his recovered staff, silent but obviously even more upset than before.

Sesshomaru acted as though nothing had happened. After a few more minutes, he turned and walked off.

Ah-Un waited as Rin got off it and picked up and pocketed a rock, before coming back over to the dragon and climbing back onto its back. Once Rin was seated, Ah-Un began to follow after Sesshomaru.

Jaken trailed after all of them, silent and in a very sullen mood, which wouldn't go away for at least a few days.

---

Later, when the group had halted for the night, Rin took out the rock and examined it.

It was a blue-green color, and it shimmered as she turned it to and fro.

After Rin was finished, she put it away, curled up next to Ah-Un, and fell asleep.

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That was a short (hopefully not crappy) chapter. Anyway, review if you'd like. I was trying to remember what waterfalls sounded like, but I haven't been near one for at least two or more years.

Oh well, the next chapter will be longer than this, and it should be more humorous with a little animal following Rin around (and the ending of that chapter should be fun). I'll try to get it up either today or sometime tomorrow.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	27. When squirrels attack

Thank you for the reviews! And I have no idea why it took me around a week to update, but here's the next chapter. It is longer than the last one. Not sure if there are actually squirrels in Japan, but I'll pretend there are for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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It was early in the morning, and everything was calm and peaceful. That is, until Rin came skipping into the area, talking nonstop to a very unhappy Jaken. She had been searching for something to eat, and Jaken was getting more and more harassed as he was asked questions. By now, Jaken was contemplating whether or not Sesshomaru knew this would happen every time. Was he being punished again?

"What should I get for breakfast Master Jaken?"

"I don't know! Find something!" Why him? Why must he be tortured?

"Okay!" Rin dashed off. She halted near a small field, where a few watermelons were growing. Rin snuck the smallest away, and took a seat beneath a tree to enjoy her meal. Jaken sat down nearby, muttering to himself.

Nothing interesting happened until a little black squirrel came over and curled up in front of Rin, watching her eat the watermelon. A few minutes passed, before the squirrel started sneaking bites of what Rin had discarded.

Rin finally noticed it and smiled at the tiny squirrel. "Hi, do you want some watermelon?" She held out a chunk of it, which the squirrel stared at for a moment, before grabbing it, backing up, and munching away at it. "You're so cute!" Rin cooed at the squirrel.

"Hurry up Rin, we should be going back!" Jaken called from the top of a hill. He had begun to walk away earlier, still trying to figure out what Sesshomaru was thinking when he sent him to go and accompany Rin to find food.

"Oh, right!" Rin got up and ran after Jaken. She turned slightly to wave good-bye to the little black squirrel.

The squirrel watched her go, before turning its attention to the remains of the watermelon. It was very delicious.

---

Later that day, Rin, accompanied by Jaken, went off to find lunch while Sesshomaru went off to do something or another. Who knew where he'd go? Perhaps he had found a lead on Naraku.

Jaken started a small fire as Rin put the recently caught fish near it. Jaken turned and walked off. "I'll be right back" was all he said.

Why did Jaken decide to go away? Rin shrugged, and was about to settle down and wait for the fish to cook, when a demon suddenly appeared. Where was Jaken when you needed him? At least he could use the staff to scare away most demons. Rin backed away slowly, but before she or the demon could do anything, the little black squirrel suddenly appeared and sat between the two. The same one from earlier in the day.

The demon stared at it for a moment, before laughing. A squirrel? What did it think it was doing? The demon's laugh was cut short, however, when the squirrel suddenly grew in size. It bared its teeth warningly. The laughing stopped and the demon stared in amazement at the squirrel. It was a demon as well? The demon retreated after seeing the size of the other's teeth, deciding not to press its luck.

Rin watched as the squirrel reverted to the small size and it came over to her, its bushy tail twitching back and forth. "Thank you." Rin said to the squirrel, and she sat down near the fire to check on the fish. They were done. She took one of the fish and set it on the ground, where the little black squirrel began eating it.

Jaken came back a few minutes later. He stared at the squirrel for a moment. "Where did _that_ come from?"

Rin shrugged. "I don't know, but it scared a demon away."

Jaken stared at her, the the tiny squirrel. Silence, then...

"Hahaha! A squirrel? Scare away a demon? You must be joking!" Jaken rolled around on the ground, laughing.

Rin didn't do anything as the squirrel dive-bombed Jaken, apparently insulted. The fish was really good.

---

Night...

Sesshomaru watched in silence as Rin played with a small black squirrel. He watched disinterested as Jaken and Rin argued about it, as Ah-Un and the squirrel studied one another. The dragon, deciding the squirrel wasn't a threat, lay down to sleep.

After the argument, Rin turned to the squirrel. "Get Jaken!"

The squirrel listened, and chased Jaken around the camp site in its demon form. Once it was satisfied that it had punished Jaken enough, it scurried off in its small form.

"Bye!" Rin called after it.

Jaken sulked over by Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru had ignored what had just happened. Once Jaken and Rin were asleep however, he reflected on what had happened that day, and wondered whether Rin had know that the squirrel had been a demon. Another mystery, and it was one he wasn't about to analyze any further.

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Really random but I thought it was funny. Review if you'd like. I decided to use a squirrel after seeing a really short video on youtube. It had a couple of seconds of what looked like a squirrel, played along with some music, and ended abruptly with the animal having a really funny expression. Anyway, the next chapter is the cavern one.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	28. Crystals

Thanks for the reviews, and I apologize for the late update. School decided to start dumping a lot of homework on me, and things are due almost everyday.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru calmly walked towards a group of mountains, where there was only one cavern to pass through to get to the other side. Sesshomaru hoped that by now Rin had gotten over her fears of whatever could be in a dark cavern. Sesshomaru glanced casually over his shoulder to check on Rin, although he could easily hear her and Jaken's conversation.

"Master Jaken? Are there any demons in the cave?"

"Demons? Hmm…there could be, but they're probably not a problem."

"Why's that?"

"Lord Sesshomaru isn't bothered about entering the cavern, so the only demons that may be in there are no threat to us."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I am! Even I don't sense any powerful demonic presences in there."

Rin didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything in return as she turned her gaze to the cavern.

Sesshomaru turned his attention back to the cavern, which was getting closer and closer. Since Rin hadn't said anything to him about entering the cave, then she must be fine. At least, he thought so.

---

Ten minutes later...

"Oh! Lord Sesshomaru! Look at those crystals over there! They're bigger than the ones in the last cave!" Rin ran over to a cluster of crystals that were about the same height as she was.

Sesshomaru stood nearby, glancing around the big open area of the cavern. He was starting to sense something, but since the presence wasn't very powerful, he dismissed it.

Jaken huffed in annoyance at having to stop for at least the third time. What did Rin find so fascinating about the crystals? They were just another formation in the world.

"Master Jaken, look! This one changed colors!" Rin said excitedly, pointing at the cluster of crystals.

This went on for at least another hour before Sesshomaru finally decided that they should get moving. He started to walk off, and Jaken eagerly follwed, glad to be moving on. Rin followed as well, but seemed a little disappointed that they had to leave so soon.

The rest of the trip was uneventful until they reached the very end. Blocking the cave entrance were two sneering demons.

"Think you're gonna pass do you?"

"I don't think so."

Sesshomaru gave the two demons a bored look, glanced at Rin, before setting Ah-Un after the two demons, who fled immediately.

"Ha! That's what you get for trying to stop Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken called after the two demons.

Sesshomaru walked out of the cavern without a word, followed by a still disappointed Rin. Jaken trailed after them, still glancing back to see if Ah-Un was coming back yet.

---

Later that night...

Rin sat next to a small pond, still slightly sad that they couldn't have stayed longer in the cave with all of the crystals. Rin glanced up as Sesshomaru came over. "Lord Sesshomaru?" She questioned.

Sesshomaru said nothing as he sat down near Rin. There was a bit of a pause, before Sesshomaru withdrew something from his kimono and held it out to Rin.

Rin stared at the object for a moment, before beaming up at Sesshomaru happily. She then took the tiny crystal shard he was holding and turned it around, seeing the slight sparkles. "Thank you Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin said, smiling.

Sesshomaru merely inclined his head, before standing up and walking off.

Rin stared at the shard again, then gazed down at the pond. She smiled at her reflection. _'Maybe the cave wasn't all that bad...'_

In the distance, Ah-Un came back, and the first thing it did was playfully chase a very unhappy Jaken.

Sesshomaru ignored the whole spectacle as he wondered why it took the whole day to get through the cave.

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Short and sweet (I think). Review if you like. I was trying to make it longer, but I just couldn't. I hope I can get the next chapter to be longer. And I have no idea when I'll update. I'd like to say tomorrow, but I have to see how long my homework takes.

So, until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	29. Butterflies

Thank you for the reviews! And sorry the chapters keep being delayed. It'll probably be like this until I have a break from school with no homework. Sadly, this chapter is short like the last one. Blame my homework. There' so much writing and typing to do for it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin was lost. She didn't know how, and had lost track of how long it had been since she was separated from Sesshomaru.

Rin stopped walking and looked around nervously. The forest she was walking through was dark and scary. She hoped that she would run into Sesshomaru soon, or even Shippo and his group. A howl rang out, and Rin huddled underneath a tree. This wasn't any fun at all. After a moment, the howling faded, and Rin ventured out from beneath the tree.

Deciding that she couldn't just hide and wait, Rin walked around the trees until she found a clearing. Emerging from the forest, Rin found herself in a quiet meadow, that was unfortunately devoid of anyone but herself. Sighing miserably, Rin settled down in the middle of the meadow, wondering what to do now.

A light silver flash caught her attention, and Rin looked up, half hoping that it was Sesshomaru. It wasn't.

A tiny little siver butterfly was hovering around Rin's head, apparently interested in her. Or her hair. The butterfly landed, where its wings fanned up and down, seemingly enjoying its spot on top of Rin's head.

Rin giggled. Even though she couldn't see it, the butterfly made her feel better. She wasn't alone. Rin looked around at her surroundings, and gasped in delight. The entire meadow was suddenly filled with countless silvery butterflies, all of whom were fluttering serenely. "Pretty..." Rin murmured, wondering for a moment if Jaken would believe her if she told him about this.

Rin stood up, happy again. The butterflies were so peaceful, and seemed friendly enough. A few of them had joined the first butterfly on her head. Others caught a ride on Rin's shoulder as she dashed around the meadow. When she grew tired of this, she sat down near a stream and held out a hand, smiling brightly when a venturesome silver butterfly landed on her outstretched hand. Bringing the butterfly close, Rin inspected it, before speaking softly, "Hello. Have you seen Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Rin."

Rin let out another gasp and looked up. Sesshomaru was standing a few feet away from her. Rin looked at the butterfly on her hand. "Thank you. Bye." Rin watched the butterfly drift away, before glancing back up to Sesshomaru. Rin stifled a giggle.

The silver butterflies seemed to have taken a liking to Sesshomaru, because they swarmed him and landed wherever they could. Soon, Sesshomaru resembled a bush that was covered in live silvery leaves. Sesshomaru didn't seem put off by this, and walked off, scattering many butterflies. Many still managed to doggedly hang on, and Rin skipped after him, the first butterfly she saw still on top of her head.

When they reached the edge of the meadow, the silver butterflies drifted off, and Rin waved good-bye to them. The butterflies seemed to understand, because all off them suddenly flapped their wings rapidly in Rin's direction, before resuming their night fly.

Rin followed happily after Sesshomaru, giggling quietly when she noticed that one butterfly was still clinging to Sesshomaru's hair. Rin decided to wait and see how long it took Sesshomaru to notice that it was still there.

Sesshomaru walked straight along a path, in the direction where Jaken had set up camp. Sesshomaru was wondering why Rin kept giggling at him. "What is it Rin?"

Rin, still giggling, replied, "There's still a butterfly in your hair."

Sesshomaru attempted to get the butterfly to leave, but it refused to let go of him. Amid Rin's laughter, Sesshomaru gave a light sigh. It was going to be a long night.

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Still short, but I liked the butterflies. They're fun to watch. Review if you'd like. I will attempt to update this weekend, since I have no school on Friday (finally a day off). And I will attempt to make it longer, but I'll have to see how it turns out.

So, until next time, thanks for reading/ and or reviewing!


	30. Interlude III

Thanks for the reviews, and hey, I updated sooner, since there's a lull in homework (finally). For this chapter, inspiration came from seeing a frog. And yes, I do think Sesshomaru humors Rin when no one else is looking.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin sat at the edge of the pond, puffing up her cheeks to imitate the frogs on the lily pads. She giggled whenever one of the frogs hopped to another lily pad and made a large croak.

Jaken sat next to a fire, jabbing at it moodily with a stick. Sesshomaru had, once again, left him behind while he went off somewhere with Ah-Un. Jaken was left in charge until he came back. Which basically meant that Jaken was babysitting Rin and making sure she didn't get into any trouble. Perfect, just perfect.

Rin glanced over at Jaken after he had let out a very loud and drawn out sigh. "Master Jaken, you shouldn't sigh so much. It can't be good for your health."

Jaken waved his stick at her. "Leave me alone annoying girl! I'll sigh if I feel like it."

Rin was going to ask why, but at the croak of another frog, she thought of another question. "Mater Jaken, do you croak like these frogs?"

Jaken puffed up indignantly, completely ignoring the fire. "No, I do not. What possessed you to ask such a question?"

Rin shrugged. "Because you kind of look like one." Rin paused, glanced at the frog, then at Jaken. "Well, I guess you look more like a toad..."

Jaken was seething. Did Rin know she was insulting him?

"Master Jaken?"

"What?" Jaken snapped irritably.

"Oh, it's just that your pants are on fire." Rin replied innocently.

Jaken gaze went down, and discovered, to his horror, that he was on fire. "Ahh!" Jaken yelped, rolling around on the ground. When that didn't work, he flung himself head-first into the pond.

Rin watched in interest as a thin line of smoke rose from the water.

The frogs had gone silent.

Jaken surfaced and spat out water. His hat was floating away, and a lily pad had taken its place, with a tiny frog atop it, croaking.

Rin had been trying hard not to laugh, but couldn't help it anymore. She broke into helpless giggles at the sight.

Jaken glared at her, but swam after his hat. Once he retrieved it, Jaken swam to the ponds' edge and got out, dripping wet. He shook the lily pad off his head, and the frog along with it. Jaken then sat next to the fire and sulked.

Rin was still laughing.

Later...

Sesshomaru had returned to the small camp with Ah-Un. The two-headed dragon went over to the pond side and, curling up next to it, began to doze. Sesshomaru sat with his back against a tree, and declined to ask why and how Jaken had gotten wet.

Rin ran over to Sesshomaru, clasping a frog in her hands. When she thought she had Sesshomaru's attention, Rin held up the frog. "Lord Sesshomaru, don't you think Jaken kind of looks like a frog? Or a toad?"

Jaken didn't hear her question, as he was currently muttering furiously to himself.

Sesshomaru looked at frog silently as its throat bulged from its croak. "There's a certain resemblance." Sesshomaru deadpanned.

Rin giggled, before running back to the pond and releasing the frog. She then ran back over to Sesshomaru, after thinking of the question she had asked Jaken. "Lord Sesshomaru, has Jaken ever croaked?"

"...Once..." Sesshomaru said after a moment, declining to add that it had nothing to do with making a sound. It had to do with his sword, Tokijin, before he had gotten it. But Rin didn't need to know that.

Rin smiled. "I knew it!" Smiling up at Sesshomaru, she asked. "Have you ever croaked?" Rin puffed up her cheeks and exhaled, laughing after she did.

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru puffed up his cheeks ever so slightly, before letting out his breath.

Rin stared for a moment, before breaking into gales of laughter.

Sesshomaru turned his head to one side. What the heck was so funny? She had asked the question. He wondered how long Rin would laugh this time.

Jaken had begun to jab at the fire again, while at the same time glaring at a little frog that had decided to sit next to him. Today had been horrible. It couldn't get any worse than this.

"Master Jaken! Jump into the pond again!"

He was wrong, it could get worse. And he had to comply, from the look he received from Sesshomaru. Jaken went over to the pond and hurled himself in.

Rin watched Jaken resurface, then up at Sesshomaru's passive face. "I still think he looks like a frog or a toad demon."

Sesshomaru puffed up his cheeks in response.

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Short again, but it made me laugh. I think frogs make the ribbit sound, but the croak worked out better, I think. Review if you like. I will try to make chapters at least 1000 words, and I think this one was around 800, not including the author notes.

So, until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	31. The book

Hey, I'm finally updating after some evil writer's block. I just came up with this in my English class, but hopefully it's all right. And again, I do think that Sesshomaru will humor Rin.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru was watching Rin in silence. The little girl was looking at some book with pictures in it and was giggling occasionally. Sesshomaru wrinkled his nose ever so slightly. Jaken must have let Rin out of his sight, as he could smell remnants of that woman who traveled with his half-breed brother, as well as that puny fox demon. He would question Jaken later. At the moment the smaller demon was attempting to catch fish in a nearby stream.

Rin turned a page and giggled again at the page she had turned to. The book that she was currently reading had actually been bound together by Kagome. The pictures had been drawn by Shippo, who had been having a burst of creativity. Rin had been given the book earlier in the day when Jaken had forgotten about her and she had wandered off.

Rin had been very excited to receive the book from Kagome and Shippo. Rin smiled when she remembered how she had thanked them and, after looking at a few of the pages, praised Shippo for how great the pictures were. She had giggled when Shippo ran off, blushing. Rin had then said good-bye to Kagome and wandered off to locate Jaken.

Rin had found Jaken a few minutes later, and apparently he hadn't noticed her absence. Rin followed Jaken back to camp, where she had settled down and began looking through her book full of colorful pictures.

This brought things back to the current page she was looking at. It was a picture of Sesshomaru in his true demonic form, batting a paw at a crudely drawn Inuyasha. Rin noted in amusement that there was a scribble under one of the paws, which she assumed may be a squashed Jaken.

Jaken,meanwhile, had given up on fishing, and was currently attempting to get a fire started. He was slowly growing irritated with Rin's seemingly never-ending giggling.

Sesshomaru rose gracefully from the rock he had been resting on, and passed by Jaken, who was blissfully unaware of the look Sesshomaru had shot at him. Sesshomaru rested on another rock, where he could glance down and see what was amusing Rin so much. Not that he really cared. More just curious. He watched as Rin turned a page and started to laugh again.

Sesshomaru tilted his head slightly, and gazed down at the book, then blinked. The picture Rin was looking at suspiciously resembled him throwing his half-breed brother into a pool of water. Sesshomaru's dead-pan expression changed ever so slightly. He remained on the rock, silently looking at the pictures as Rin turned the pages. Many of them depicted him either fighting with Inuyasha, beating up a scribble of Jaken, doing something in his true form as well, like playing around in a field, which Sesshomaru couldn't recall doing or would ever do.

Rin closed her book suddenly and set it to one side. She flopped onto her back and smiled widely up at Sesshomaru, "Hello Lord Sesshomaru. What are you doing up on that rock?"

Sesshomaru turned his head to gaze at some nearby trees, "Nothing. I am merely resting here because I feel like it."

Rin smothered another giggle, because she had noticed Sesshomaru glancing down at her book, "Did you like any of the pictures?"

Sesshomaru seemed to ignore her for a moment, before replying, "They all seemed to be rather…interesting in their illustration." There was a silence, than he asked a question with a faint smirk, "Perhaps one of them will be real again."

Rin looked confused. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Sesshomaru smile, unless he was enjoying beating Inuyasha, and even then he usually didn't smile. Thinking of nothing else to say, she questioned, "What do you mean my Lord?" Rin watched in silence as Sesshomaru hopped down from the rock and stalked over to where Jaken was seated, cursing the pitifully small fire he had got going.

Rin grinned when she realized what Sesshomaru was up to. Rin laughed as she watched Sesshomaru punt a flailing Jaken through the air and land with a splash into the stream. Rin picked up her book and ran over to where Sesshomaru had seated himself on another rock. "Was that what you meant by one of the pictures being real, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru's expression was blank again, " Jaken seems to be neglectful of keeping an eye on you and allowing meetings with my half-breed brothers' friends." Sesshomaru fell silent and pretended that he hadn't even said anything.

Rin merely smiled and sat down on the ground to look at the pictures again, as well as watch Jaken get out of the water with a wriggling fish attached to his backside. Rin laughed at the sight, and didn't notice the faint trace of amusement in Sesshomaru's eyes.

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Sorry if the some of the punctuation was off. I wanted to get this chapter up because I feel bad for not updating as often. It would help if people would just say random words or something. That might spark a chapter. Like this chapter I based it around the word book.

Anyway, thanks for reading and/or reviewing and hopefully the next update will be sooner.


	32. Lizard

Thank you for the reviews! Here's the next chapter (and again, I do think that Sesshomaru will humor Rin).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru settled down on a rock overlooking a lake, and watched, uninterested, as Jaken pursued Rin around, trying to keep her from going to play in the lake.

Rin got bored after awhile and sat down by the lakeside, a weary Jaken slumped down nearby. Rin had really wanted to play in the shallows of the lake, but Jaken hadn't let her go anywhere near the water. Rin pouted. What was he worried about? It wasn't like she was in any danger with Sesshomaru so close by. Rin let out a sigh and cast her gaze about, trying to find something to occupy her time.

A small, frilled lizard suddenly appeared from behind a tiny rock and scuttled along the grass, pausing every once and awhile to see if it had been spotted.

Rin giggled at its antics and scooted near it, pulling forth some bread from the folds of her clothing. Breaking off a piece off, she tossed it to the lizard and waited. Soon, Rin was feeding the lizard more pieces of the bread. Rin watched the lizard scuttle away when there was no more bread left to eat. Rin smiled and went after it, following its odd pattern of movement.

Jaken watched the scene from where he was lay, before he dozed off in the warm afternoon sun, wondering if Rin was different from other human children.

Sesshomaru got up from the rock, half-thinking to make Jaken wake up, when the small frilled lizard screeched to a halt in front of him. Sesshomaru stared down at the lizard in silence, "..." Where had it come from?

Rin came over next to the lizard, attempting to crawl like it but not doing very well. She smiled up at the expressionless Sesshomaru, "Lord Sesshomaru, can you crawl like the lizard? It's hard to do."

Sesshomaru transferred his gaze to Rin, not exactly sure how to answer, "..."

Rin stood, looking up at Sesshomaru questioningly, "Do you know how?"

Sesshomaru, after making sure that Jaken was asleep and that no one else was in the vicinity, nodded once and crouched down, staring at the tiny lizard as if daring it to do something.

In it's small mind, the lizard seemed to think that Sesshomaru was sizing it up as a potential meal, and scuttled off.

Sesshomaru went after it, keeping pace with it, even though he was missing an arm. When the lizard leapt into the lake, Sesshomaru halted and sat down against a rock. He seemed to be wondering why he had just done what he did.

Rin came over and sat down next to him, smiling, "Where did you learn that?"

Sesshomaru stared off into space, not really intending to answer, but did anyway, "...When I was younger..."

Rin lapsed into silence and stared at the light reflecting off the lake's surface. "Lord Sesshomaru...can you teach me how to do that?"

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

"..."

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Just some quick, cute little chapter. Hopefully it's all right. One more paper for school to do, then I'll be free!

So, until the next update, thanks for reading and/or reviewing. I plan to get another chapter up once or twice this week, and both should be longer than this one was.


	33. Never alone

Some fluff, taking place in the the winter because I'm dealing with weather that's hotter than I'd like it to be.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin was shivering, and had been for the last hour or so. Sesshomaru had left the camp hours ago to go and scout the area to make sure there weren't any demons trying to conceal themselves from his notice. Jaken had left an hour earlier with Ah-Un to gather more firewood and hadn't returned yet. Rin hugged her knees to her chest in an attempt to keep warm. Luckily, the cavern she was in was in blocked the howling blizzards' wind, but that didn't make it feel any warmer. Rin peered out the cavern entrance hopefully, but saw neither Jaken nor Sesshomaru appear in the white sheet of snow falling heavily to the earth.

The fire, which had been crackling and several feet high, was now diminished to a miniature flame that was threatening to go out completely at any moment.

Rin had chosen to sit as close as she could to the tiny flame, attempting to keep any stray winds from putting it out. Rin let out a breath, watching the fog made from it diasappear, before resting her head on her knees. _'Lord Sesshomaru...' _Where was he? Would he be able to find his way back through the blizzard? Rin shivered a bit more. Was Jaken lost again? Had he found more firewood, but Ah-Un couldn't find the way back?

Rin's eyes drooped slightly as she attempted to stay awake, so that she would be able to see Sesshomaru when he returned. But she couldn't. Rin drifted off, shaking, as the tiny flame in front of her went out.

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Sesshomaru was heading back to the camp he had left after scouting the area and finding no traces of other demons. He didn't think many demons would like the frigid temperatures anyway. Sesshomaru noticed that there was no fire light coming from the cavern, and wondered if perhaps Jaken had moved the camp to a different location. No, he wouldn't do that for fear of upsetting him...

Sesshomary headed towards the cavern, a faint frown evident on his face as he drew closer.

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Rin was dreaming. She knew she was. She was back at her home with her family, and saw that most of them were asleep. Rin padded quietly over to her mother and father, both asleep. She lay down next to them, feeling tired all of a sudden. It was cold. Rin closed her eyes, but felt someone drape a blanket over it. Was that one of her brothers? It wasn't so cold anymore...

Rin drifted off again, but this time noticed that she was awake again, and that she was indeed not cold anymore. Instead, she was warm. But why? Rin held still for a moment, before noticing breathing and a heartbeat other than her own. Rin ventured a look around, and figured out where she was. Or rather, who she was resting on.

Sesshomaru was seated, leaning against the cavern wall, his eyes closed. He held Rin curled in his right arm, so that her head was resting near his shoulder.

Rin snuggled against him, feeling very safe now. It was okay to sleep now. Sesshomaru wouldn't let her freeze. Before Rin drifted off, she murmured, "Thank you...Lord Sesshomaru..."

Sesshomaru was awake, and chose to pretend that he heard nothing but the blizzard raging outside. However, he made sure that Rin wouldn't get cold, and listened for Jaken and Ah-Un to return. Had that fool gotten lost again?

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Yes, I've finally updated. Poor Jaken, I keep picking on him. I have some ideas for more chapters now (My mind was blank for this story for awhile, sorry). Anyway, how was this chapter? Let me know if you could. Until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.


	34. The Festival

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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"Lord Sesshomaru?"

"…"

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

"…what is it Rin?" Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder, to where Rin was looking up at him hopefully. She had been pestering him occasionally for the past hour or so, and he finally decided to see what she wanted.

Rin smiled when she noticed that Sesshomaru was looking at her. With her best pout, she asked, "Could we please go to that village's festival?"

Sesshomaru blinked at Rin _pouting_ at him like that, and then transferred his gaze to the village ahead of them on the path. The villagers were starting up some kind of festival. Sesshomaru considered his options. Since Jaken had been sent off on an errand with Ah-Un…it couldn't hurt to take Rin to the festival…Could it? He didn't exactly have a reason to say no...

"Very well." Sesshomaru intoned, hoping he wouldn't regret his decision. He was silently amazed at Rin's sudden change in emotions, going from sad to excited in a matter of seconds.

"Really?" Rin asked excitedly. At a nod from Sesshomaru, Rin let out a delighted whoop and dashed towards the village as quickly as she could.

Sesshomaru followed at a distance, before speeding up slightly, deciding he shouldn't let Rin be alone…in case there were any shady characters that seemed to appear out of nowhere when children were alone…Sesshomaru shook his head lightly. No. He wasn't going to be paranoid…there was nothing to worry about.

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Ten minutes later and Sesshomaru was silently cursing himself for agreeing with Rin to let her attend this…festival…_thing_. Rin was quite happy though, having sampled several different foods and had fun playing games with other children.

Sesshomaru, on the other hand, had to ignore women who cast interested or dreamy looks his way, and avoid accepting anything from them. Human females could be very strange. What was attracting them to him? Was it his hair or eyes? His clothing? The fact that he was escorting Rin around the festival? Whatever it was, it was beginning to bother him. He didn't like all of the attention. It was...unnerving.

It didn't help that they thought he and Rin were a sweet sight. There was cooing over how _adorable_ Rin was and how it was so _nice_ that he father was with her. _Father_? Did those female humans actually think he was her father? They looked nothing alike.

Rin, however, seemed to find it all very amusing and would grab Sesshoamru's hand and attempt to tug him to different booths and stands, amidst comments whirling by them.

He couldn't take it much longer.

A teen boy sauntered over at that moment, smiling at Rin, who was looking at a few stuffed animals/dolls that could be won. He began a quiet conversation with her.

Sesshomaru stared down at the teen talking to Rin, his right hand twitching. He didn't like this teen. It reminded him of that blasted monk that traveled with his brother. If he got any closer…he would have to take drastic measures.

The teen seemed to be oblivious, and when Sesshomaru deemed he was too close, he took action.

Who said festivals couldn't be fun for demons?

A high-pitched scream rang out, along with shouts from older villagers rushing over to break up a fight.

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Sesshomaru stalked along the path again, the festival a few miles behind him. Walking next to his side was Rin, who was trying very hard not to giggle. Sesshomaru pretended not to notice, so Rin spoke, "Lord Sesshomaru…he was only asking me if I wanted him to help me win one of the prizes. You didn't have to attack him…"

"…"

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

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I know the last chapter wasn't very interesting. I am glad that I finally came up with another chapter. Hope it's okay. I've been randomly choosing words or phrases to help jump-start the chapters. I'd like to come up with a new list so I can update more frequently. And...Is it better for me to ramble down here than at the beginning of the chapter?

I'll update as soon as I am able to, and when homework doesn't interfere.


	35. Windy days

Hey, I updated! It's a somewhat longer chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Rin was sleeping soundly, curled up next to Ah-Un, the dragon in a light doze. Nearby, Jaken paced around, fretting about why Sesshomaru hadn't returned yet. Last night, he and Rin had gotten into an argument about the demon lord's whereabouts. Rin had won the argument when she had told Jaken that Sesshomaru would return when he was done with whatever he had set out to do. She had also added that they shouldn't worry too much about it. Sesshomaru always returned.

Jaken had puffed up to make a retort, but Rin had already retreated into a shallow cavern where Ah-Un was resting. When she had gotten to the dragon, Rin had curled up next to it and promptly fell asleep. She hadn't heard Jaken's splutter of annoyance at her ignoring him.

Early dawn...

Rin awoke when Ah-Un shifted, one of its heads rising and looking out of the cavern. Rin tilted her head to see what it was looking at. Rin had to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles.

Jaken was being tossed around in the air by violent air gusts.

Rin watched with interest for a few minutes, before turning to Ah-Un, whose other head had now joined the other in watching the flailing figure in the air.

"Ah-Un, can you rescue Jaken? He'll get angry if he's up there for too long."

Ah-Un got to its feet and lumbered out of the shallow cavern, taking to the air and chasing after Jaken, who kept getting tossed higher and higher.

Rin wondered if she could do that too...

Sesshomaru returned an hour or so later, and was greeted by the sight of Jaken clinging to Ah-Un's back as the dragon tried to reach Rin, who was shrieking with laughter as she was tossed around in the wind gusts. Sesshomaru stared for a moment and wondered if perhaps he were still asleep. What in the world did that child think she was doing? The wind gusts wouldn't last forever...

As Sesshomaru thought that, the wind lessened and Rin fell from the sky with a frightened cry.

Sesshomaru leapt forward and caught Rin, landing on the ground lightly. He watched as Ah-Un landed nearby, a frazzled Jaken falling off and teetering around on the ground before finally falling over. Sesshomaru wasn't the least bit sympathetic as he set Rin on the ground.

Rin was silent for a moment, before looking up at Sessgomaru with a smile,"That was fun!"

Sesshomaru gazed down at her for a moment, and, seeing that she hadn't been injured, turned and walked off.

Rin clambered onto Ah-Un's back, the dragon moving as soon as she was seated. Rin called over her shoulder, "Come on Master Jaken! Sesshomaru is leaving!"

Jaken was still flat on his back, dazed.

Sesshomaru walked forward without any concern, knowing that the imp would eventually catch up.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Jaken's on the ground."

"..."

"Lord Sesshomaru! Jaken fell into the stream!"

"..." It was hopeless.

The wind picked up and Sesshomaru watched impassively as Jaken flew overhead.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Master Jaken is flying higher than I was!"

Sesshomaru's lip twitched ever so slightly as he predicted where the wind gusts would toss Jaken. A patch of pointy bushes next to a tree that held a nest of some kind.

Well, at least the wind did something good every once and awhile.

"Owowowowoaaaw!"

"Master Jaken! Are you all right?"

"Ngh."

"Lord Sesshomaru! What's in that nest?"

Sesshomaru looked over at Rin's expectant face. Then, "Demons." He deadpanned, and watched Jaken race around and towards the stream, chased by tiny little mice with enormous teeth.

Rin frowned, "Will he be all right?"

Sesshomaru started walking, "...yes..."

Ah-Un followed Sesshomaru again, leaving Jaken to throw off the mice and chase after his companions.

"Lord Sesshomaru...the demons are still chasing Jaken."

"..." The exercise was good for him. Besides, this way, Jaken would be too tired to pester him about the plans for the next day.

Yes, windy days did have their uses.

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I think this was a very random chapter...but it was fun to type. I'd like to write more often, but sometimes I have to wait for something to inspire me. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Even words or phrases would be helpful to jump start my brain.

Anyway, until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing.


	36. When bees attack

Sorry about the wait. This chapter was inspired by Chi Yagami's suggestion.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru stared off into space, pointedly ignoring the cursing coming from several yards away. Next to him, Rin sat fiddling with a flower she had picked. The silence between the two went on, as the cursing became cries of pain. Then, there was a loud splash.

Rin glanced back and saw that Jaken had leapt into the nearby stream, angry bees still hovering over the water's surface. Soon, however, the bees seemed to lose interest, and went over to where there hive had fallen and broken.

Just five minutes earlier Jaken had gotten into an argument with Rin, which resulted in Jaken bonking his head against a tree, causing the previously unseen beehive to smack him over the head and unleash the bees. They proceeded to chase Jaken, furious with their home being disturbed.

Rin looked up at Sesshomaru, who hadn't moved from where he had been standing. Glancing back at the water's edge, where a very wet and unhappy Jaken clambered out, she asked, "Lord Sesshomaru, will Master Jaken be all right?"

Sesshomaru cast an uninterested glance in the smaller demon's direction, "…" While Jaken might be uncomfortable with all of the stings, he'd eventually recover.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

"…Yes…" Sesshomaru said in a monotone voice, turning his attention to something in the distance.

"…" Rin looked at Jaken, then to Sesshomaru again, "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"…"

"Why is there a really big bee over there?"

"…"

Jaken yelped all of a sudden and shot off, pursued by an enormous demonic bee, which the smaller bees may or may not have been trying to get to show up.

"…" Sesshomaru didn't bother watching and began to walk off. Jaken would follow eventually, once he shook off the obviously angry bee. Rin followed after Sesshomaru, wondering why he was being so quiet today.

If Rin had known that Sesshomaru had been stung as well, she might of understood. Some stings could be painful on some parts of the body.

And there was no way Sesshomaru would lower his dignity to complain or say anything about it. He would, however, think of some way to take care of it. Perhaps when Rin and Jaken were asleep.

Sesshomaru disliked bees almost as much as his idiot half-brother.

Rin followed Sesshomaru, left to ponder what could be causing his silence.

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Bit short, but I wanted to put something up to show that I'm still adding chapters. I just kind of wait for inspiration to strike.

Until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	37. Tenseiga

Thanks for being patient, and thank you for the reviews for the last chapter! (Rest of A/N later).

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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It was turning out to be another normal day, with yet again no sign of Naraku...However...

Something was off today, yet he couldn't quite figure out what it could be at the moment. It was such an odd sensation...

Sesshomaru was currently resting against a tree, lost in thought as he tried to reason out what he was seemingly feeling. Why did he believe something was amiss? Sesshomaru cast his eyes about his surroundings for an answer, but had trouble finding anything useful. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The sun was shining, the winds were caressing nearby trees, causing them to rustle. Small animals inhabiting the area were active, chirping and making a general din. Sesshomaru turned his attention to his traveling companions. Perhaps that was what he was sensing. Ah-Un was sleeping next to a small campfire, Jaken was on fire and trying to put it out (that wasn't out if the ordinary), and Rin was crying…

Sesshomaru blinked and turned his attention to the crying girl. Rin…was crying? So…that was what had been bothering him and making him think that there was something amiss? Sesshomaru didn't recall the last time Rin had ever looked so depressed. He frowned ever so slightly. But then…why was it bothering him? He hadn't done anything to make her sad, had he? Sesshomaru paused his thought process. Where had that come from? Why would he even care, all of a sudden? Humans had a range of emotion; it wasn't out of the ordinary to see a human cry. Sesshomaru stared at Rin a bit longer, trying to decide how to deal with this new predicament.

Jaken, meanwhile, had managed to put out the flames that had caught his clothing on fire. Mumbling something furiously to himself, Jaken chanced a quick glance over where Sesshomaru was standing. Then did a double take. Sesshomaru appeared to be considering something as he looked at the crying Rin. Like he was at a loss of what to do. Jaken glanced between the two, deducing that Sesshomaru wanted to know why Rin was sad and crying, but unsure how to proceed. Knowing that Sesshomaru had a difficult time expressing any emotion, if at all, in these kinds of situations, Jaken decided to go and ask for him. Even though he didn't exactly _want_ to, Jaken walked over to where Rin was. Aware that Sesshomaru was observing him now, Jaken tried very hard to be polite to the crying Rin.

"What is…wrong?"

Rin dried her tears on a sleeve of her kimono, and sniffled from where she was seated, still teary eyed, "…"

Jaken shifted uncomfortably, "Er…er…what's making you cry like this?" It was very difficult to be nice like this. He could barely stand this human when she was happy, yet dealing with her when she was sad was almost even harder.

Rin stood up, sniffling, but had stopped crying for the most part. She stared at Jaken for a moment, before grabbing one of his hands and walking, leading Jaken to a nearby stream. Rin halted and, letting go of Jaken, pointed down mutely to something half in and out of the stream.

Jaken frowned at it as he tried to make out what it was. It appeared to be an unmoving bundle of gray and white fur. A raccoon maybe? Why did she even notice it in the first place?

Sesshomaru had glided gracefully after the two and lurked nearby, furrowing his eyebrows faintly. So…a dead animal had caused Rin to cry and revert to being temporarily mute?

Jaken, unaware of Sesshomaru's presence, was currently trying to decide how best to comfort Rin. He couldn't tell her that it was merely sleeping, as Rin wouldn't be fooled by that. Rin, after all, had witnessed death in her village when it was attacked by demonic wolves…So, Jaken was at a loss of what to say. What could possibly be said to make her feel better?

Sesshomaru didn't really know what to do either, but his train of thought halted when he was interrupted by Tenseiga. The blade pulsed in reaction to the sad little bundle of fur nearby. Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga, staring at the now shining blade, "…"

When neither Rin nor Jaken were looking at the raccoon, Sesshomaru leapt gracefully over the stream bed, blades slashing through the air above the raccoon. Sesshomaru landed on the other side of the bank, sheathing Tenseiga as he did. Then, he continued walking, hearing Rin's surprised yet delighted gasp moments later. _'Tenseiga...'_ Sesshomaru briefly wondered why the blade had been more reactive to the fallen lately. Was it trying to get him to use it more often? Sesshomaru shook the thought away and went back to the temporary camp, unknown to Rin and Jaken, "..."

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Rin had become dry eyed after she showed Jaken the raccoon, but Jaken hadn't said anything. Why wasn't he saying anything? Rin looked at Jaken, and found that the only thing that came out of him were stutters of an attempt to speak. Rin frowned a little. Did Jaken feel bad for the little raccoon too? Rin glanced back at the raccoon involuntarily, and let out a gasp. The little raccoon had crawled out of the stream the rest of the way, and was shaking the water out of its coat, sneezing as it did. With a final shake and a sneeze, the little raccoon scurried off after noticing Rin and Jaken, and sensing Sesshomaru's presence. Rin waved in the direction it had gone, "Bye!"

Jaken watched the little creature leave in silence. He had been sure that it was dead… Jaken hurried after Rin, who had gone back in the direction of the campsite, skipping and singing softly, a smile back on her face.

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Later that evening, Jaken watched Rin talking to Ah-Un happily, and turned slightly to where Sesshomaru was standing nearby in silence, staring off into the distance. Well, he might as well ask the question. Sesshomaru didn't appear to be in a bad mood at the moment, "Er, er, Lord Sesshomaru…did you happen to use the Tenseiga on the raccoon earlier today?"

"…" Sesshomaru continued to stand in silence, indicating that Jaken would probably not receive an answer anytime soon. Sesshomaru, in fact, had merely heard Jaken say something, but it didn't register as anything coherent. Instead, he was thinking about how nothing seemed amiss now, and was somewhat confused that he no longer as tense and agitated as before. Had Rin being unhappy really caused the feeling of unease? Or was it merely something like another demon that had moved out of his range of senses? Sesshomaru thought about it, and didn't notice Rin steal up to him until he heard her speak.

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru broke out of his thoughts to stare down at Rin, "…?"

Rin smiled, "Thank you for helping that raccoon." With another small smile up at the bewildered demon, she went off to go back over to Ah-Un.

Sesshomaru frowned ever so slightly as he regained his composure. He wondered if Rin had seen him use Tenseiga. Sesshomaru gazed up at the starry sky again, "..."

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Yes, I finally updated! Bit longer than the last few chapters but hopefully it was all right (and with no grammar issues). I liked writing it, although I can't recall if Rin's seen Sesshomaru use Tenseiga or not in that manner (or if I had him use it in this story yet, I don't think I did) but it worked for the chapter. I've had a lot more homework lately, but I've got ideas for several more chapters. I hope to get another up sometime this month. Like one that I'm calling Anthem.

Again, thanks for being patient for this update. BTW, I am working on a chapter where Rin ends up in Kagome's time (Sandninjanaru's suggestion). That one will take awhile before it's up, but it's in progress. And I'm glad people like this story, as it makes me want to keep coming up with new chapters (I just need inspiration to come up with a new chapter, or a suggestion from someone). So, until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	38. Waking nightmare

Sorry about the delays between chapters. As for this one, I enjoyed writing it. Suggestions are appreciated, as they can normally spark a whole story idea for me.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

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Sesshomaru was having a strange dream. He was in an open field at night. While he could see the moon and stars, Sesshomaru could not sense anything around him, not even other demonic auras. Or any aura in general. It was strangely empty, and a little disconcerting. There wasn't even any wind. Sesshomaru turned, observing his surroundings more closely. An open field, with a river in the distance, and a line all around the horizon, indicating trees. Sesshomaru wondered why he did not even hear the stream. It was like the world had frozen in place. As he took a step forward, Sesshomaru felt something tug on his hair.

Sesshomaru immediately spun about, hand raised to strike at whatever dared to touch him...yet there was nothing there. Sesshomaru lowered his hand slightly, frowning faintly. No one should have been able to sneak up on him...he would have sensed or heard them.

Another tug, this time harder. Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder at his hair, but saw nothing that would indicate that anyone had touched him. What was going on?

The tugging sensation continued, and Sesshomaru couldn't find the source, no matter what he did.

Then, all of a sudden, the field was gone, and Sesshomaru woke up abruptly. He had been resting against a tree and had apparently dozed off. That meant he had been dreaming about something tugging his hair. Sesshomaru let his senses drift, and was pleased, inwardly, that he could sense the activity of wildlife around him.

Sesshomaru felt a tugging on his hair again, and looked over to his side, where Rin sat...braiding a bit of his hair. Sesshomaru's hand twitched. Why was the girl touching his hair?

Rin noticed that Sesshomaru was awake, and she smiled at him, "Good morning, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru stared at the small human as she continued to braid the hair like nothing was wrong, "Rin."

"Yes Lord Sesshomaru?"

"What are you doing?"

"Braiding."

Sesshomaru blinked, then decided that he should be more specific, "Yes. Why?"

Rin finished tying the braid and put a little bow at the end. She let go as Sesshomaru stood up, and stared up at the demon for a moment before smiling again, "Because it looks good." Rin got momentarily distracted as Jaken had fallen over and was wresting with a rather large fish. Where that fish had come from, Sesshomaru didn't know. He was more preoccupied with the state of his hair.

Sesshomaru took the distraction as a chance to go to a small pond nearby and see if he could get the braids out of his hair, as well as the bow. No demon would find another demon with braids in its hair very intimidating at all. Or even a threat. Not that Sesshomaru would care what the other demons might think. He'd just...

Sesshomaru stared at his reflection, before tilting his head to see the rest of it. He must have fallen asleep for a long time. Not only did Rin braid most of his hair, she weaved random little bows into hair that hadn't been braided. Where had she gotten all of the bows? They were miles away from any village.

"Wah!"

"Master Jaken! Don't let the fish eat you!"

"..." Sesshomaru tugged at the nearest braid, ignoring Jaken and the fish fighting, wondering how long it would take to get his hair bow and braid free.

The scenery seemed to be fading...again...

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Sesshomaru woke up, and found himself resting against another tree, but it was different than in the dream. His hand went to his hair, and found that no one had done anything to it. Sesshomaru let his hand drop to his side and glanced around. Rin and Jaken were dozing around the embers of a fire, and Ah-Un was staring up at the sky, tail swishing back and forth occasionally.

Sesshomaru got to his feet and walked a few strides away from the makeshift camp and stared up at the starry sky. He decided that he would not fall asleep if Rin were still awake. Though Sesshomaru doubted Rin would attempt to braid his hair without permission, even if he happened to fall asleep.

"..."

Not that he'd ever allow something like that to happen. He didn't let his guard down around anyone, no matter what they were or how old they were.

"..."

It was something his idiot half-breed brother would be more likely to be subjected to.

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Somewhere, miles away, at the same time Sesshomaru was staring up at the sky, a village swore they heard a terrible, piercing scream and angry yells. It was later reported that a red clad figure with braids in their hair chased after a smaller figure with a tail, while three other figures tried to dissuade the chase. One, a monk, was reported to have said that he had done the braiding, to which the red clad figure then chased after the monk instead.

The monk had not been seen since.

Of course, the village hadn't seen the group come back their direction, so rumors were flying around.

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Sesshomaru thought he heard screaming as he walked along a path, but more or less ignored it. It couldn't possibly have any affect on him. Sesshomaru stopped walking suddenly as the sound got closer.

"Get back here!"

"Run Miroku!"

Sesshomaru watched, emotionless, as Miroku ran across the path, with Inuyasha close behind, hair braided and looking absolutely furious. Shippo followed close behind, yelling for Miroku to go faster before Inuyahsa caught him. Sango and Kagome brought up the rear, attempting to stop Inuyahsa without having to resort to force.

"..."

Sesshomaru watched them go, then began to walk again. He pretended that he hadn't even seen what had just went by.

In the distance, a yell of "Sit!" could be heard, accompanied by a yell of protest.

"..."

Sesshomaru continued to walk. His brother's problems weren't his.

"Lord Sesshomaru? Why did he have braids in his hair?"

"..."

It would be another long day, thanks to his brother dashing by like a fool and raising questions that he didn't want to attempt to explain.

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For some reason the last bit of this chapter amused me. I like the whole dream within a dream idea, it can be entertaining. Well...let me know what you thought of it (and let me know if there are any mistakes that I missed correcting).

I hope to update soon, so until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	39. Confrontation?

This idea come out of nowhere, and while I doubt Sesshomaru would react this way, it was still fun to write.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyahsa.

* * *

Rin rested more comfortably against Ah-Un as the two headed dragon fell into a light doze, ready to leave at any given moment. Rin glanced across the clearing, to where Sesshomaru was staring down at some small item on the ground. The demon lord had been standing in a tense position, ready to strike the object should it move or show any malice. Rin, however, had soon recognized the item as something Kagome would have with her. What was it called again? Oh. An umbrella. Did Kagome drop it?

Rin turned to Jaken, who was in danger of falling asleep, "Master Jaken?"

Jaken jerked out of his doze, "What is it?" He asked irritably.

Rin looked back at Sesshomaru, "When should we tell him that he's glaring at an umbrella?"

"..."

Jaken looked at Sesshomaru as well, who was standing motionless in the clearing, hand poised to attack, "...I wouldn't tell him at all..."

Rin blinked, turning her attention skyward.

It had begun to rain.

Ignoring Jaken's stuttering protests, Rin stood up and walked over to Sesshomaru, stooping to grab the umbrella. She missed the faint look of surprise cross Sesshomaru's face. It was gone almost instantly, but it had been there nonetheless. Rin fiddled with the umbrella, and when she managed to pop it open, she again missed Sesshomaru's reaction. He had taken a half a step back. Rin held it over her head, stopping the rain from getting her wet. She turned and smiled up at the baffled demon.

Sesshomaru relaxed from his tense posture when he had seen that the umbrella was harmless. He wanted to ask what it was, and where it had come from, but...

"I think this is Kagome's." Rin said in answer to his unasked question of where the umbrella had come from. She didn't know that Sesshomaru was trying to deny and ignore the fact that he had been glaring at the thing for hours.

Sesshomaru stared at the 'umbrella' for a moment, and, deciding that it looked like a fancier version of something a human would wear on their head that was native to this land, turned away. The material was different, but it didn't really matter to him anymore. Heedless of the rain, Sesshomaru began to walk off, silently stating that they were going to leave.

Since Sesshomaru hadn't said anything about the umbrella, Rin figured she could keep it until she found Kagome to give it back to.

It'd keep her from getting soaked, as the light rain had suddenly turned into a downpour.

* * *

I updated sooner! Thank you for the reviews! One of the reviews for ch. 37 gave me an idea for a new chapter, so that one will be up after the next interlude chapter.

Until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	40. Interlude IV

I'm glad people like this story; it's fun for me to write. And yes, I know I already did a butterfly chapter, but that one was more humorous than this one. This one is supposed to be more sweet/cute (?). Thanks for reviewing, and here's the 40th chapter!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything from Inuyahsa.

* * *

Sesshomaru was staring off into the distance, more or less seeming to ignore his surroundings and what was going on with his traveling companions. He didn't notice Rin walking carefully away from a patch of flowers, staring at her slightly cupped hands.

As Sesshomaru seemed to not be interested in this, Jaken felt he had to wonder why Rin was staring at her hands like that. Had some bee stung her hands? Or did she pick some flowers and was carrying them? Jaken frowned a little. Rin wouldn't be walking so carefully if it had just been flowers. Jaken pretended to be checking up on Ah-Un, so that he could pass by Rin, to see what she was holding.

In the palm of one of Rin's hand was a tiny butterfly, whose wings were fanning up and down slowly. It was a light color. White or light blue, with a hint of something more colorful along the wings.

Jaken lost interest as he actually did go over to Ah-Un and check the saddle. As long as Rin wasn't wandering off, he didn't exactly mind or care what she chose to do.

Sesshomaru turned away from his far off gaze when he detected Jaken sighing again. Jaken seemed to be doing that a lot more lately, and Sesshomaru knew that part of it was when he was either annoyed with Rin or when the girl was doing something that wasn't very interesting. Sesshomaru's eyes caught a butterfly flying away from a crestfallen Rin. Where had it come from?

Rin watched the little butterfly vanish into the distance, saddened. She had wanted to show Sesshomaru the butterfly, since it seemed like he was bored from staring at nothing in general. Rin had wanted to draw him away from that for even a moment, because when she didn't have anything to do but stare at what was around her, she would occasionally get sad. While Rin wasn't sure if Sesshomaru got sad, she wanted to show him the butterfly...but now it was gone.

Seeing that Jaken was preoccupied with Ah-Un, Sesshomaru walked over to where Rin still faced the way the butterfly had gone.

Rin saw a shadow, and tilted her head to smile a little up at the other, "Hello, Lord Sesshomaru."

"..." Sesshomaru gave a slight incline of his head in acknowledgment, but seemed a little distracted.

Rin wondered why, but soon found the answer, as she watched Sesshomaru lift his hand up, one finger extended, like he was pointing at something. Rin would have giggled at the sight, but since she knew Sesshomaru wouldn't do something so odd without reason, waited patiently to see what would happen. Rin was puzzled, until she saw a tiny light blue and white butterfly come from seemingly nowhere, to land on the demon's outstretched finger. She stared at the butterfly in surprise, as Sesshomaru lowered his hand to her level, so she could see the butterfly better.

It almost looked like the one that had flown away.

Sesshomaru watched as Rin's face lit up with delight, silently wondering why she seemed to be so fascinated with such a tiny creature. But still...he stayed in that position, until the butterfly decided to fly away again, but this time Rin didn't get sad.

Instead, Rin smiled up at Sesshomaru, more brightly this time, "Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru."

Sesshomaru watched as she raced off to help Jaken get untangled from the saddle, before he glanced down at his hand. Really, what was that all about? Why had he done that? Glancing at Rin, who was still smiling happily, Sesshomaru decided that it had been because she had looked sad.

Sesshomaru pushed the thought out of his mind so that he didn't think about it too much.

For the moment, everything was as it should be, and Sesshomaru didn't need to think about it any harder than that.

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I'll keep updating as long as I keep figuring out ideas for the chapters (or getting suggestions).The next chapter'll be one that was a suggestion, so I hope to get that up as soon as I can.

Until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	41. Howls in the Night

Thank you for the reviews! I've been in the mood to type lately, so I'm updating sooner. This chapter was inspired by one of Miss Misty's suggestions.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Inuyasha.

* * *

It was night time, yet Sesshomaru was still walking, showing no signs of tiring. He was determined to check out the new information concerning Naraku. Behind him, Jaken followed at a shuffling pace, feeling weary but not wanting to stop and get left behind. Ah-Un didn't seem to mind the late walk, and was lumbering along at a steady pace. Rin was dozing off on the saddle, about to fall asleep when a faint sound could be heard.

"Owooooooooo."

Rin flinched in her seat, wide awake from the sudden howling. It made her think about the demonic wolves that had attacked her village, then chased after her.

Sesshomaru sensed Rin's unease, and without turning around, spoke, "It's communicating with its pack." Sensing that Rin was still nervous, he added, "Demonic or not, the wolves won't come near here."

Rin calmed, silently agreeing that nothing would dare sneak up and attack Sesshomaru, so she'd be safe.

Sesshomaru turned his attention back to the path after realizing that Rin's unease was diminishing.

Jaken, holding Ah-Un's reins, thought that any wolf, demon or not, wouldn't dare come near Sesshomaru, as he'd merely glare at them and send them packing.

"Owwooooooooo!"

Rin flinched a little, but trusting what Sesshomaru had said, asked a question instead, "Lord Sesshomaru...what are they saying?"

"..."

Jaken spoke up, "Rin, don't bother Lord Sesshomaru with such silly questions." Jaken fell abruptly silent at a glare Sesshomaru threw over his shoulder at him.

Facing forward again, Sesshomaru responded, "They are trying to find one another."

While that was somewhat interesting, Rin decided to get some sleep while she could. If Sesshomaru had told her the wolves wouldn't come anywhere near them, she felt safe enough to try and get some sleep. Though it took over an hour, Rin was soon resting peacefully.

Jaken checked to see that Rin was asleep, before asking Sesshomaru in a quiet tone, "Is that really what those wolves were saying?"

"..." Sesshomaru looked up at the sky as he spoke, "They're gathering for a hunt." He had left that part out, because Rin wouldn't have gone to sleep otherwise. She would have not slept had she thought that the wolves were gathering to hunt them. There was no reason to cause Rin worry, when the wolves appeared to be more interested in something else.

Jaken fell into a thoughtful silence as he walked along, before deciding that he didn't want to figure out the way Sesshomaru's mind worked. Not to mention he'd probably get into trouble if he tired and Sesshomaru caught him. Not a pleasant thought.

In the distance, howling could still be heard, though there were more wolves joining in now.

"Owooooooooo!"

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Bit short, but hopefully turned out all right.

Until next time, thanks for reading and/or reviewing!


	42. Anthem

Thank you for the reviews, and wow, over 40 chapters. I really do enjoy writing these, so I hope I can keep putting up new chapters.

121

It was a quiet day, and Rin was waiting for Sesshomaru and Jaken to return from wherever they had gone. With Ah-Un resting nearby, Rin began singing softly to herself. It was a beautiful day, and she was quite happy.

"Lord Sesshomaru did you know,

That Master Jaken is green?

I wonder if he's ill?

Lord Sesshomaru, you should

Get him checked out.

Before poor Jaken,

Gets any greener."

Rin paused a moment, trying to figure out another way of putting that. It was funny that Jaken was green. How were they supposed to tell if he ever got sick? Would he get greener, or would he turn a different color? Rin thought about it, smiling as she thought about potential colors. Then, deciding that it didn't matter for the moment, she tried out another line.

"Lord Sesshomaru did you know,

That Master Jaken changes colors?"

Rin paused again, but this time it was because she saw Sesshomaru coming towards her and Ah-Un. Smiling, Rin dashed over towards him, "Lord Sesshomaru!"

She could sing some other time when she was lonely. Rin didn't have to sing when Sesshomaru was around, because she didn't feel lonely then.

1211

Pretty short, but still fun to write. The next chapter will be longer.


	43. Energetic

Thank you for the reviews. I'm working on more chapters, some of them suggestions.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

121

Sesshomaru had been gone for only a few hours, and when he returned, he found Jaken scurrying around and panicking. Sesshomaru observed Jaken silently for a moment, before turning his attention to the source of Jaken's flustered acting.

Rin.

Up in a tree, high up, reaching for a fruit of some kind.

Apparently, Jaken couldn't climb trees. Or he had declined to.

Sesshomaru approached the tree, and Rin spotted him, waving one hand down at him, "Welcome back, Lord Sesshomaru!"

Jaken made a funny noise and backed up against the tree.

Sesshomaru completely ignored him, instead tilting his head to look up at Rin. "What are you doing up there?"

Rn thought about it for a moment, before answering, "I was hungry, and I saw the fruit. Master Jaken didn't want to climb, so I did," She paused, then cast a nervous look at the ground, "I don't know if I can get down though..."

Sesshomaru transferred his gaze to Jaken, who, after seeing the other demon's expression, made a 'eep' sound and fled over to where Ah-Un was.

Rin, meanwhile, was busily trying to get the nearest fruit out of the tree, when she slipped, arms flailing about as she knocked a piece of fruit down and toppled off the branch, "Ahh!"

Sesshomaru had turned in time to see Rin lose her footing, and moved gracefully to catch Rin before she had fallen very far. Sesshomaru set her down on the ground, where Rin picked up the fallen fruit, and turned around to beam up at Sesshomaru.

"Thank you, Lord Sesshomaru." Rin sat down where she was and bit into the fruit, not noticing that Sesshomaru was stalking toward Jaken.

121

Days later, Rin didn't have to climb the trees to get food, because Jaken made sure to do it himself. He didn't want Sesshomaru to be angry again, or feel the annoyed aura that wanted to maim him in some way.

Sesshomaru, standing off to the side, stared up at the sky and hoped that Rin wouldn't try to climb a tree again. It had caused a tiny twinge of panic when she had fallen, and Sesshomaru wanted nothing of it. He shouldn't have felt anything. Being emotional was for humans. Sesshomaru turned his attention to Rin, who passed by with a smile and a greeting as she went over to pester Jaken.

Sesshomaru gazed up at the sky again.

...Maybe an occasional scare would be all right. It wasn't like anyone could read his mind and see whether he had been truly worried or not.

Though Sesshomaru supposed falling out of trees was the least dangerous thing that Rin could encounter.

1211

I do think that Sesshoamru cares about Rin. He just doesn't want anybody to know.


	44. Pearls

Thanks for the reviews! The next chapter will be a suggestion I received. It'll be up within two days.

111

Rin was waiting for Sesshomaru and Jaken to return, so she looked for something to do to pass the time while she waited. She was at a beach and Ah-Un was sleeping nearby on the sand, far enough away to not get wet from the waves lapping up from the sea.

Rin decided to go play in the shallows, enjoying the cool breeze that had just picked up. Rin looked down, something catching her attention. There was a glint in the water.

For the next hour, Rin walked up and down the shallows, picking up shells, and a few small pearls.

Eventually not seeing anything else, she walked away from the shore and went to go sit down next to Ah-Un, sorting through what she had picked up.

Several small shells and four tiny pearls. Rin stared at the pearls, trying to decide what to do with them.

Sesshomaru returned a few hours later, and watched silently as Rin walked up to him.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Look what I found," Rin said, showing the four tiny pearls to the silent demon.

Sesshomaru stared at the pearls, wondering vaguely if some sea demon were missing some pearls. Something was placed in his hand, and Sesshomaru stared down at the tiny pearl Rin had placed there, "…" Sesshomaru turned his attention back to Rin, and saw her give Jaken another of the pearls. Rin then went over to Ah-Un and put another pearl into a bag on the saddle.

Rin put the remaining pearl into her own pocket and turned to smile at Sesshomaru, "There! Now we all have one." Rin saw Sesshomaru turn and walk away, and quickly grabbed Ah-Un's reins, to get the two-headed dragon to follow.

A few minutes of silence passed as the group walked, when Rin noticed Sesshomaru staring at the pearl in his hand. Rin smiled happily when she saw him put the pearl into a pocket. Rin sang softly as they walked, while Jaken wondered what the big deal about a pearl was.

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Hmm, clueless Jaken amuses me. I didn't remember why I wrote this one, but I liked it anyway. I apologize for any choppiness in the chapter.


	45. Past and Present

Took a bit more time since this chapter is longer. This was a suggestion by Sandninjanaru (or at least half of it-I plan on doing another Kagome time chapter).

-x-x-

Rin was playing in a field, Jaken and Ah-Un nearby. Rin paused in running around and saw that Jaken had fallen asleep. Well, that was no fun. She had been going to see if Jaken would go fish in the small stream nearby. Turning, Rin walked away from the temporary camp site, and moved further into the forest that surrounded the field. After a few minutes of walking, Rin came across an old well. Rin approached it, unaware that Kagome used it to go back and forth between her time and the past.

Rin peered over the side and stared down the well, wondering why she saw no water nor heard it. Glancing around her, Rin picked up a small rock. Turning back to the well, Rin dropped the rock down the well. She didn't even hear it hit the bottom of the well. How far did the well go down? A loud sound came from behind Rin, startling her, and caused her to topple down into the well with a frightened cry.

Jaken had actually woken up and had been following Rin, wondering what she was up to. When he saw her overbalance, Jaken hurried forward and went down the well after her, only to fall to the bottom of the well and nearly knock himself out. Jaken leapt up and looked around wildly. Rin was nowhere in sight. Jaken climbed out of the well, where he promptly started to fret, wondering where Rin was. "Oh...what am I supposed to tell Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Tell me what?" Sesshomaru questioned in an even tone, standing nearby. He watched impassively as Jaken started to grovel and apologize that he had lost track of Rin for a second and she had fallen down the well, but she was nowhere to be seen. Sesshomaru turned and, ignoring the still groveling Jaken, stared at the well. From the scent in the area, it seemed like the human girl with strange clothing, Kagome, came to the well often. Was the well the connection? How she got to this place? Sesshomaru considered the well again. He had seen Inuyahsa earlier that day, and the woman hadn't been with him, meaning that she had used the well that day or the day before. Sesshomaru got closer to the well, and picked up Rin's scent with Kagome's. He frowned. How did the well work?

-x-

Rin opened her eyes, holding still as she realized that she was on the ground of the well. Rin sat up, wondering why she wasn't hurt from falling down the well so far. Well, no point in staying where she was. She'd see if she could climb back up the well, and go find Jaken and Sesshomaru. With some difficulty, Rin climbed up the well and stepped away from it. Rin looked around in surprise when she saw no forest around her, but instead was dark and enclosed somehow, but she saw light coming from further in front of her.

Rin slowly approached it, climbing some stairs to approach the light. She pushed the door open and stared around at the sight that greeted her. It was an unfamiliar sight, and Rin stayed next to the door. Something felt wrong. Rin would have been standing there for hours if Kagome hadn't noticed her standing there.

Kagome walked over to Rin, and saw that the young girl recognized her, "Rin, how did you get here?" When she received no answer, Kagome realized that Rin was nervous about her surroundings. Kagome thought about what to do, before offering a hand to Rin, "Why don't you come to my house for a little while?" Kagome led Rin into her house and had Rin sit down on a chair. Kagome sat down on another and asked, "Where's Sesshomaru, Rin?"

Rin shook her head, "Lord Sesshomaru wasn't there when I fell down the well."

_'Oh, so she did fall down the well...but I thought only Inuyahsa and I could cross time.'_ Kagome felt a little trepidation. _'Wait, if Rin can cross time, does that mean that Sesshomaru can too?'_ Kagome wasn't sure if it was a good idea for Sesshomaru to come there. She wasn't sure how he would react to the presence of more humans in one area than he was used to.

"Do you think Lord Sesshomaru will come get me?"

_'I think it would be a bad idea, but...'_ Kagome smiled at Rin, "I'm sure he would, but you can go back down the well and you'll be back home."

Rin quickly shook her head, "It's too scary."

_'Well...now what?'_ While Kagome tired to figure out what to do, Rin looked around the inside of Kagome's house with a hint of interest. What was that box in the corner of the room?

-x-

Sesshomaru stared at the well awhile longer, before leaping into it. He fell for quite awhile, longer than the well looked, before he landed on the ground. Sesshomaru wrinkled his nose slightly when he realized that he was at the bottom of the well, before leaping out of it. Sesshomaru stood still for a moment, as he realized he was in a shrine of some sort. Sesshomaru left it, and paused outside momentarily, to take in the strange sights and the strong scent of many humans.

After a moment, Sesshomaru picked up Rin's scent in the building nearby, along with Kagome's scent...was it her home? Sesshomaru entered the building and found Rin and Kagome sitting in the living room, where Rin was surprised by moving pictures on a box.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin said happily, jumping up off the chair and going over to him, television forgotten.

Sesshomaru stared at Kagome coolly, before turning and walking back the way her had come.

Rin followed after the demon, but waved good-bye to Kagome as she left. Before she had gotten very far, an old man rushed into the room and confronted Sesshomaru, waving paper slips and water around.

"Begone, foul demon!"

Rin and Kagome watched the old man waving the slips at Sesshomaru, who stared at the man, wondering what he thought he was doing.

Rin giggled at the sight while Kagome sighed, "Grandpa, stop that. Let him leave." _'Before he decides to attack you.'_

Kagome's grandpa looked sorely disappointed, but shuffled to one side, eying Sesshomaru and muttering something about demons.

Sesshomaru ignored him completely and resumed walking, Rin going after him, still giggling.

Kagome watched her grandpa slink out of the room, still looking disappointed and then watched Sesshomaru and Rin leave the house. Kagome wondered if when she went back to the past if Inuyahsa would pick up Rin or Sesshomaru's scent and make a big deal out of it. Especially if he found out that Sesshomaru was capable of crossing time. Kagome sighed. She'd probably have Inuyahsa hovering outside her room again if he did find out. Maybe a shower would help.

Back inside the shrine...

Rin hesitated near the well, nervous about the thought of jumping again.

Sesshomaru noticed this, and, seeing that no one was nearby, picked Rin up and jumped, feeling Rin clutch him tightly at the suddenness. Sesshomaru landed on the ground, immediately being able to tell that they were back in the right time. Sesshomaru leapt out of the well and landed next to the startled Jaken. "Go get Ah-Un." Seeing Jaken scurry off, Sesshomaru turned his attention to Rin, who's still clutching him tightly. "...We're back."

Rin lessened her grasp and looked around at their surroundings, calming when she saw all of the trees.

Sesshomaru set Rin down on the grass, and stared in the direction that Jaken had gone.

"Thank you for finding me, Lord Sesshomaru."

"..." Sesshomaru nodded faintly as he continued to stare.

Rin smiled as she sat down and waited for Jaken to come back with Ah-Un, wondering if she should go visit Kagome again sometime. She lived in an interesting place.

-x-x-

I have a list of ten words that I hope will turn into chapters, so I'll update when I get one done.


	46. Please?

Thanks for the reviews! Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Not mine

-x-x-

Rin was playing alone near a village, and was currently picking some flowers.

Jaken was keeping an eye on her, knowing that Sesshomaru wouldn't be lenient with him if Rin were to get lost again, or hurt. Jaken grumbled to himself, wondering why Sesshomaru was so concerned about one mortal girl.

"What are you doing?"

Jaken nearly jumped out of his skin, turning around to look up at Sesshomaru nervously, "Er, what is it, my lord?"

Sesshomaru stared down at Jaken, "..."

Jaken glanced around, before realizing that Rin had wandered out of view, again, "Ahh! Where did she go? She was right here a second ago!"

Sesshomaru walked by, "Take Ah-Un and go to the next village over. Gather information." Sesshomaru didn't bother to watch Jaken make a scramble for the two-headed dragon, instead heading to the village nearby. He could tell that Rin was near to it, but wrinkled his nose slightly. Rin was heading back from the village, and she was bringing something with her. Sesshomaru went to investigate, and found RIn laughing and playing with a small dog that apparently had wandered off from the village. Sesshomaru frowned faintly. The dog's scent reminded him somehow of Inuyasha.

The dog noticed Sesshomaru first, and it gave a tiny growl as the demon approached.

Rin looked up, and smiled, seeing Sesshomaru stop a few paces away. She glanced down at the dog, then looked up at Sesshomaru while pointing at the dog, "Can we keep him, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru stared down silently at what had been pointed to, then transferred his gaze to Rin. Who was currently looking up at him hopefully. Avoiding that look, Sesshomaru turned his attention to the small bundle of fur on the ground, tail waving enthusiastically. Maybe that was why it made him think of Inuyahsa. The dog was actually a puppy, and seemed to posses way too much energy. One of Sesshomaru's eyebrows twitched at the sight of the innocent-looking puppy.

Absolutely not.

Sesshomaru's demonic aura rose in irritation, and it caused the puppy to run away, back to the village.

Rin didn't appear to be too upset with the puppy's departure. She waved at it as it ran away, "Bye!" When the puppy was out of view, Rin turned and smiled up at Sesshomaru. Cheerfully, she asked, "Lord Sesshomaru, did the puppy leave because you're a dog demon and bigger than it?"

"..." Sesshomaru turned and began to walk away. He paused briefly as another dog trotted by, and sent it running by growling faintly at it. Sesshomaru resumed walking, acting as though he hadn't done anything out of the ordinary.

Rin giggled at the sight, and followed after Sesshomaru, assuming that they were going to go find Jaken and Ah-Un.

-x-x-

Yes, I'm sure there have been stories with something like this, but I wanted to write one with a dog/puppy in it anyway.


	47. Cold

I had originally planned for this story to be 50 chapters, but I've enjoyed writing these short chapters so much that I'd like to keep it going longer. If it doesn't bother anyone, I want to try and get this story to 75-100 chapters. As of yesterday, I still have around 20 ideas/suggestions for new chapters. If people who are reading this would let me know what you'd like to see (amount of chapters, etc), then either pm me or leave a review. Also, some of the ideas I've had are jotted down, but I'd consider them more to be T rated. If no one minds, I'll put those chapters up and say at the beginning that they're T. Though Inuyasha is a T rated manga anyway, it probably doesn't matter so much, but since I rated this story K+, I wanted people's opinions on that.

With that said, here's the next chapter. Yes, another Rin is sick, but I like this one better than the chapter I wrote about a fever.

-x-x-

Sesshomaru was unsure how to proceed with his current dilemma. That morning, when he had come back from gathering information about Naraku, he had found Rin sick. Like the fever Rin had had before, Sesshomaru wasn't sure what to do with a sick human child, though he knew there were some kinds of herbs or something of the sort that should help. Never getting sick, however, Sesshomaru didn't know what would work. Last time he had gone to a village for help, but he didn't want to go through that again. Besides, the nearest village was miles away. Instead, he decided that the human women that traveled with Inuyahsa might be able to tell him. Not that Sesshomaru wanted to go, but with Jaken as clueless about the correct treatment, it didn't give him much choice in the matter.

"Erm...Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru transferred his gaze onto Jaken, who flinched back at bit at the intensity. The thought of lowering himself and asking for a human's help left him feeling a little irritable and not in the mood to deal with Jaken at the moment. Sesshomaru looked away, once he realized he had caused Jaken to start grovelling and begging him not to hurt him. It wasn't just the fact that he'd have to ask for help. It was the fact that he would more than likely have to deal with his moronic half-breed brother whom he had little patience for either. Why Tetsusaiga had chosen him...

Jaken stopped grovelling when he realized Sesshomaru wasn't exuding a heavy demonic aura and seemed to be more annoyed, if anything could do that. Jaken watched Sesshomaru staring off into the distance, then glanced back to where Rin was curled up next to Ah-Un, looking miserable with the cold she had. That was the reason, most likely, for Sesshomaru's annoyance, though Jaken suspected it was something more than that. Jaken braced himself as he tried speaking again, "Lord Sesshomaru...?"

Sesshomaru started to walk after communing with Tenseiga to see if he could locate Inuyasha. Luckily it seemed Inuyahsa and those he traveled with were close by, which Sesshomaru should have known. As they all were seeking Naraku, it would make sense that they would cross paths while looking for leads and information. "Stay here, Jaken, and keep an eye on things."

Jaken watched Sesshomaru glide off, silently wondering what he was doing that he'd have to leave all of them behind. There had been no news of Naraku, so then...Jaken glanced at the sick Rin, then back in the direction Sesshomaru had gone. Was Sesshomaru actually trying to find something to help Rin? "Preposterous," Jaken muttered to himself, as he settled down to wait for Sesshomaru to return.

-x

Sesshomaru arrived on the outskirts of Inuyahsa's group's campsite, and noted, to some relief, that Inuyahsa wasn't around at the moment. Sesshomaru started to head toward the campsite. Too bad, he could have knocked that little half-breed around. Maybe he would have been able to learn something about Naraku that he didn't know already. Oh well, they would more than likely cross paths again in the near future anyway.

-x

Kagome was jabbing at the fire in the middle of the campsite moodily, cursing Inuyahsa yet again for being such a stupid idiot. They had been in another argument, in which Inuyahsa had stormed off to fight some demons that had turned up nearby, with Miroku and Sango going after him. Kagome sighed. She really didn't need to deal with Inuyahsa's immaturity right now, not when she had to go home soon and take that test. One that she hadn't been able to study for yet.

Shippo was sitting nearby, mimicking Kagome and poking the fire with a stick. He left off doing that as he glanced over at Kagome, "What's wrong Kagome?" The little fox demon paused, then added with a faint smile, "Other than your lover's quarrel with Inuyahsa."

"Shippo!" Kagome shook her head, then said, "It's...nothing, I'm just tired..."

Shippo was about to say something else, when Kirara, who had been sleeping curled up, woke up and changed into her larger form, growling at something at the edge of the campsite.

"What is it...!" Kagome cut herself off as she saw Sesshomaru approaching them, and cursed Inuyahsa again for running off so suddenly. Though she cursed Miroku too, as he didn't have to go join the other two.

Sesshomaru completely ignored the unease he had just caused to the others, and spoke as though Shippo and Kirara weren't there, "Rin is sick."

Kagome looked at Sesshomaru in surprise. _'Okay...so Rin is sick. What do you want me to do about it?'_ Kagome had a feeling that Sesshomaru wasn't going to say anything else, so she assumed that he thought she knew some cure or medicine. She did have some medicine, so she supposed she could give him that. Kagome got up and located her bag, rummaging around through it.

Sesshomaru stood motionless where he was, watching impassively as Kagome tossed things out of the bag while searching for something.

Kagome finally located a bottle of pills. Glancing at the back of it, she took out one pill and snapped it in half. Kagome didn't have any medicine for children, so half a dose should be fine for Rin to take. Kagome stood up and approached Sesshomaru hesitantly and handed over the half a pill. Seeing Sesshomaru eye it dubiously, Kagome spoke, "Have Rin take that with some water. It should help. After that, she should get rest and drink lots of water. It'll take a little while for her to feel better."

Sesshomaru pocketed the medicine and inclined his head ever so slightly, before turning and leaving the area.

Kagome went and sat back down by the fire, as Kirara watched Sesshomaru leave, remaining tense until the demon felt Sesshomaru had left. Then, Kirara was back down to her small size, where she went over and curled up on Kagome's lap.

There was a bit of a silence, before Shippo spoke, "Why didn't he thank you at least?" He paused, then said, "Well, he is Sesshomaru. I guess that'd be beneath him to do."

"Maybe, but that small nod could have been as close a thank you as he'll ever do."

"Kagome..."Shippo began, before he was cut off.

"Where is he?"

Kagome shot Inuyahsa a cool glare, "Oh? Back already?"

Inuyahsa blinked, then frowned, "What? You're still mad? What for?"

Twitch.

"Sit boy!"

"Agh!"

Shippo shook his head and settled on the ground to wait out the impending argument.

-x-

Sesshomaru was headed back for where he had left Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un, wondering if what Kagome had given him would actually work. It smelled odd.

Two days later...

Rin was running around, chasing Jaken with a stick she had found, laughing.

Sesshomaru watched from nearby in silence. The medicine the women had given him had worked after all. It was as though Rin had never been sick. At the moment, Rin had decided to start up a game, where she was hunting demons and Jaken was supposed to avoid getting caught. Sesshomaru had gracefully gotten out of the way and watched the proceedings from a distance.

Rin caught up to Jaken, who had flopped down on the ground near Ah-Un. Rin poked him lightly with the stick, "Got you! Bad demon!" Rin swatted Jaken lightly a few times before she was satisfied that the 'bad demon' had been vanquished, before running over to Sesshomaru.

Jaken sighed, wondering how often he'd have to put up with these new games.

Rin found Sesshomaru staring up at the sky, as though he hadn't just been watching Rin poke Jaken with a stick moments earlier. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru turned slightly to glance down at her. "..."

"Are we gong to go soon?" Rin asked. Seeing the nod, she turned and ran back over toward Jaken, "Master Jaken! We're going soon! You should get up."

Sesshomaru started to walk, an energetic Rin trying to tug Jaken to his feet. Sesshomaru was somewhat interested in the medicine Kagome had. It hadn't looked all that useful, but based on Rin feeling better, it was. He would have to get more, in case Rin got sick again.

-x-x-

Pretend that the dosing is okay, as I saw that most bottles of pain releif/etc say to ask a doctor for children under 12. The point of the chapter isn't the medicine anyway. I hope to update soon.


	48. Moonlight

Been feeling a bit unhappy, so I've waited to update. Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep on writing the chapters.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

-x-x-

Rin was excitedly running along the path through the forest, staring up at the moonlit sky through the leaves. The glow lit up patches of the ground, and Rin was occasionally hopping from patch to patch. Jaken followed after her wearily, after having tried to calm her down for the past ten minutes.

"Rin! Lord Sesshomaru said to stay put!"

Rin stopped moving and turned around, smiling at Jaken, "But Master Jaken, we are close to where we were left. I've just been going in circles."

At that, Jaken glanced around, and saw, quite suddenly, that the temporary camp could be seen through the treeline nearby, and that he had, indeed, been chasing around after Rin in a circle for the past ten minutes. With a sigh, Jaken went back over to the small campfire, and stayed near it, looking unhappy at being mistaken.

Rin, meanwhile, continued her jumping from moonlit patch to moonlit patch on the ground, wondering when Sesshomaru would return. He had been gone for quite a long time. More so than usual. After another ten minutes of jumping into moonlit areas, Rin grew bored of it and wandered off from the camp, as Jaken had dozed off near the dying fire. Rin had thought she had heard something from the direction she was headed in. If it was nothing, she'd just walk back the way she came, and Jaken wouldn't know that she had gotten so far away.

The trees gave way to a clearing that overlooked a short cliff drop, and standing on one of the rocks overlooking the cliff stood Sesshomaru. Rin stared up at the moon for a moment, before walking forward towards Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru had obviously sensed her approach, but did nothing other than stare off into space across the cliff.

Rin climbed up one of the smaller rocks near Sesshomaru and sat down on it, looking in the direction the demon was. There was a sort silence, before Rin spoke up, "Lord Sesshomaru, is there something over there?"

Sesshomaru's gaze went to Rin momentarily, before he turned his head back in the direction he had been staring, "..."

Rin didn't expect him to answer, and was about ready to go and leave him alone, when he surprised her by speaking.

"There are lesser demons over there, and they are being dissuaded from coming over here by my presence."

Rin turned back to look up at Sesshomaru's passive face, "Are you going to stand there all night?"

"..." Sesshomaru's head tilted in a nod.

"You're not going to chase them away?"

"..." Sesshomaru's head shook slightly, as if to say the lesser demons weren't worth the energy to scare off.

Rin giggled, "I'll go back, Lord Sesshomaru. The demons won't bother us if you're here." She climbed down the rock and headed back in the direction she had come. Rin turned around, "Good night, Lord Sesshomaru." Rin ran off back in the direction of the temporary camp, where she found Jaken sleeping soundly.

Sesshomaru remained where he was. In truth, the lesser demons had already vacated the area by the time Rin had shown up. He just was staring up at the moonlight, lost in thought. Perhaps he should have allowed Rin to stay longer...There was a tug on the fur trailing about his shoulder, and Sesshomaru glanced over his shoulder, "..."

Rin was back, and she was smiling up at Sesshomaru, "Master Jaken is snoring too loudly."

"..." Sesshomaru didn't think it was that loud. In any case, why had Rin come back? Sesshomaru watched Rin climb up on the rocks, until she was seated near where he was standing. There was another short silence, before Rin spoke.

"The demons are gone, aren't they?" Rin cast a smile up at the stoic demon lord.

"..." Sesshomaru was surprised by the girl's words, but didn't let it show.

Rin looked away, "It's okay if you want to look at the moon. I like to look at it too when it's so bright."

"..." Sesshomaru resumed staring at nothing in particular, though the moon had been what he was focusing on more, while he thought.

Rin smiled to herself when she realized that Sesshomaru had been looking at the moonlight. She didn't say anything more as she looked up at the sky. An hour later, Rin was asleep, curled up on the rock.

Sesshomaru broke out of his trance-like state, and scooped the sleeping girl up, carrying her back to where Ah-Un and Jaken were resting.

Perhaps he should gaze at the moon more often.

-x-x-

It's a bit short but I've not been wanting to write this story when I'm in a bad mood. I actually feel better after writing this. Hmm. I'll try to update sooner (with something longer).


	49. Doppleganger T

So this chapter would be considered T. Let me know what you think of it, and I might occasionally add T chapters along with the K+ chapters. This chapter is mostly bad guys plotting, some fighting, and a bit of fluff at the end.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

-x-x-

Naraku was hiding in the shadows, waiting silently. He had set the meeting up, after all, and was already mostly disappointed with the demon that he had approached a few days earlier. The reason being that the demon was late for the meeting, which told Naraku that the demon wasn't intimidated by him, at all. Naraku cast a glance around once more, before closing his eyes. It really didn't matter much to him whether the demon feared him or not. After all, the demon was merely a pawn to be used. It wouldn't even matter if it were killed in its errand that he was sending it on. Naraku's eyes flashed open as a demonic aura suddenly appeared in front of him.

"What do you want?" The demon stayed hidden in the shadows, but Naraku could see that the demon itself was shadowy, and a peculiar feeling came over him. When Naraku tried to focus on the demon, it almost looked as if he was looking at himself.

Naraku smiled to himself. A shape shifting demon would be of use to him to keep one of his pursuers off his trail, while he found another suitable place to hide and gather his strength. Even this low level demon should be able to keep Sesshomaru occupied. Or, rather, occupied looking for someone else, "I want you to go find Sesshomaru, a dog demon. He travels with a few companions, one of them human girl."

The shadowy demon made a sound which sounded like a snort of amusement, "Pah, weakling humans. Why would a demon bother dragging one along?"

Naraku gave a barely noticeable shrug, "I would not know. However, if you were to take the girl, Sesshomaru would come after her."

The demons red eyes narrowed, "...and I would be able to defeat this Sesshomaru and get a hold of one of those Shikon shards, as you said in our earlier conversation?"

Naraku inclined his head, "Of course, that is, provided you defeat him." The shadowy demon let out a grinding, then grating sound that Naraku presumed was something along the lines of a laugh as sharp teeth were bared.

"It will be done."

Naraku watched as the demon faded from view, before smiling to himself again. There would be only one that would remain standing, and Naraku knew that it wasn't going to be the shadowy demon that had just left his presence. No, Naraku merely needed it as a distraction in order to have time to become undetectable for awhile. There was no way that it would be on the same power level as Sesshomaru. Naraku vanished into the gloom. It was time to get to work. It was a pity he couldn't go and see how the confrontation between Sesshomaru and the shadowy demon would turn out.

-x

Rin was bored. Sesshomaru hadn't returned for nearly three days, and while Ah-Un was useful for protection, Jaken was no fun to talk to. He would always tell her to go do something else or leave him alone. Rin had been running back and forth, until she grew bored of it. She had already picked flowers the day before, and sat by the stream the day before that. At the moment, Rin was walking further away from Jaken and Ah-Un, thinking she might run into Sesshomaru like the last time. Rin decided to look for a little bit, before going back to the temporary camp, so that Jaken would not notice her absence and scold her.

Rin was about to head back after another ten minutes of searching, when she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. Rin turned around quickly and beamed up at Sesshomaru, who was standing there, "Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru cast a glance down at Rin, "I sent Ah-Un and Jaken on ahead. We're leaving now," With that, Sesshomaru turned and started to walk.

"Right!" Rin followed after him without question. Though...how could he have gotten to Jaken and Ah-Un before her? Well, he was a demon. It wouldn't be too difficult. Then, he may have come looking for her when he found she wasn't where he left her. Rin would apologize later for running off without taking Jaken or Ah-Un with her. For now, Rin was happy that she was with Sesshomaru again. Rin walked in silence for several minutes, before beginning to feel as if something were wrong. She couldn't explain why exactly that was. Rin felt uneasy when she began to realize that her surroundings were, for the lack of a better word, creepy, "Where are we going, Lord Sesshomaru?"

There was no response from Sesshomaru as he kept on walking.

Rin was felt even more uneasy by now and decided then and there that she really wanted to return to the clearing where she had left Jaken and Ah-Un. Rin turned to leave, but was stopped by the sudden growls of several lesser demons that were now blocking her path. Rin stumbled backwards with a silent scream, as one of the demons had swung a paw at her. Rin knew something was definitely wrong by now, as Sesshomaru had made no move to help her.

Sesshomaru looked at Rin and smiled faintly, before blurring a bit and changing into another demon that was shadowy looking, its red eyes boring into Rin's, who in turn let out cry of terror.

Naraku laughed from somewhere nearby, and spoke in a soft tone, "Defeat Sesshomaru and a Shikon shard shall be yours."

The shadowy demon closed in on Rin.

"Lord Sesshomaru!"

-x

Sesshomaru returned to where he had left his traveling companions days earlier, not all that concerned that he had found nothing useful since he had been gone. Sesshomaru thought to travel to anther small village a day or so's walk in the opposite direction he had been traveling. He wasn't in any hurry. Naraku was probably skulking around somewhere trying to figure out how to gain more power, while at the same time keeping his enemies from finding him. It made it a little more difficult to track Naraku, but it wasn't impossible. Sesshomaru entered the clearing, and found Jaken and Ah-Un sound asleep. Sesshomaru's eyes swept the whole area. Rin was nowhere in sight. Sesshomaru turned and stalked toward the snoring Jaken.

Jaken was having a very pleasant dream, but it was interrupted when Sesshomaru punted him halfway across the clearing, "Wah-ah!" Jaken scrambled upright and spotted Sesshomaru, "Ah! Lord Sesshomaru! You've returned!" Jaken quailed a bit beneath Sesshomaru's stare, "Er...is something the matter...?" Jaken looked over at Ah-Un to see if Rin had done something that Sesshomaru would be blaming him for...and saw no Rin. No Rin. Jaken scurried around the small clearing, "Rin! Rin! Where did you go off to, you silly girl?" Jaken managed to avoid being stepped on as Sesshomaru walked past him in silence. "Lord Sesshomaru?"

"Stay here."

With that, Jaken found himself all alone again with Ah-Un. Though he felt glad that there wasn't any more repercussion for being neglectful. He needed to be more alert so that Rin wouldn't keep running off to explore. Jaken sighed. He hoped that Sesshomaru would be in a better mood when he returned.

-x

Sesshomaru didn't like the scent that was on the air. It was foul, like Naraku's, but faint, meaning if it had been him, he was already gone. Sesshomaru found Rin's footsteps and followed her steps and scent, until, quite suddenly, the scent and tracks were gone. Sesshomaru halted and stretched his senses, to see if he could sense Naraku's aura, or any other demonic aura, for that matter, "..." Sesshomau turned, drawing out Tokijin as he did, and swung it without hesitation.

The fake Sesshomaru leapt out of the way, and landed nearby, smiling nastily, "Did you lose your little human pet?" The fake drew a blade that resembled Tokijin, and rushed forward to clash blades with Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru and the fake parried and thrust at one another with precision, evenly matched. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as he continued to aim attacks at his opponent. It was almost as if Sesshomaru were fighting a mirror image of himself, as none of the strikes were going through. The fake ould counter with the exact same move, defensive or offensive. Something needed to be done to break through the stalemate.

The fake Sesshomaru appeared to be enjoying what little frustration could be drawn from Sesshomaru. It parried Sesshomaru's attack, laughing, "How does it feel to fight yourself? A little unnerving perhaps?"

Sesshoamru aimed a diagonal slash at the fake, face neutral as he deadpanned, "It is boring."

The fake Sesshomaru faltered for one second, angered at Sesshomaru's statement. It left it open for an attack, and Sesshomaru didn't waste it. The fake hissed angrily as Sesshomaru managed to score two hits on its left shoulder and right side. The fake leapt back, recovering its composure in time to deflect a series of quick blade slashes, returning a flurry of attacks in return. After exchanging more parries, the fake fell back into a comfortable state, speaking again as it ignored its wounds, "Heh, these wounds are nothing to me. You'll need to do more damage if you hope to defeat me."

Sesshomaru angled Tokijin and plunged the blade into the chest of the talking form of himself, "You talk too much for a weak demon." Sesshomaru leapt back, taking his sword with him as he did.

The fake Sesshomaru smirked, "I told you this isn't enough to defeat me. By now, I could have had my underlings taking care of that human."

Sesshomaru jumped back a few paces and leveled Tokijin, "..."

The fake copied Sesshomaru's movement, "It's no use, none of your attacks will be powerful enough to defeat me."

"Dragon Strike."

"Dragon Strike!"

The two attacks met midair between the two combatants, but after a few moments, the original overpowered the fake. The materialized dragon dug into the fake Sesshomaru, forcing it to revert into its true, shadowy form.

The demon looked furious at what had just happened. It shouldn't have been able to lose. It couldn't lose. It had worked too hard trying to locate a shard. It wouldn't be defeated when it was so close within its grasp. The demon snarled something incoherently, before it threw itself at Sesshomaru with outstretched claws, intent on doing some serious damage.

Sesshomaru gracefully dodged the erratic attacks, stowing Tokijin away for the time being, and drew out Tenseiga. If none of his attacks were damaging it much, then...Avoiding one more attack from the demon's claws, Sesshomaru cleaved the demon down the middle.

The shadowy demon laughed at the lack of a wound, before gurgling and dropping to the ground. Itstared up at Sesshomaru in disbelief, before it disintegrated until only bones remained. The red glow in the eye sockets of the skull was still there, the defeated demon promising revenge, before the light went out and the bones disintegrated further into dust. It would take some time before it would be able to work up enough energy to return.

Sesshomaru was already walking away by then, exchanging weapons once more. He was soon set upon by lesser demons, which he easily dispatched with a few quick swings of Tokijin. Sesshomaru pinned the last demon against the ground with a foot and stared down at it coolly until it ceased struggling, "Where is the human girl?"

The lesser demon hissed something to itself, before speaking to Sesshomaru,"Gone. Is gone. Master took."

"Master? The shadow demon is dead."

The lesser demon appeared fearful, and shook its head when Sesshomaru repeated his question to it, "Don't know. Gone. Don't know."

Sesshomaru walked away, uninterested in a grovelling demon, until it tried attacking him. Sesshomaru swung Tokijin in a lazy arc, and the demon lay dead. Sesshomaru ignore it and continued on his way. He could smell more demons up ahead, but could tell that they weren't very powerful either. Sesshomaru moved along smoothly as he picked up on Rin's scent. Now that the leader was dead, the other demons had no reason to leave Rin alone.

-x

Rin cowered against a tree, watching the lesser demons around her either arguing amongst themselves or leering at her with mean expressions. Rin shrank further against the tree whenever a demon would edge closer to her. The demons always ended up backing away, like there was a barrier that prevented them from getting any closer. Rin couldn't explain it, but was relieved that the demons couldn't get any closer to her. _'Lord Sesshomaru...'_

Time seemed to stretch on forever, and Rin, despite trying her best to stay awake, had started to nod off. She came wide awake when the demons started giving vent to cries, which quickly gave way to angry snarls. Had something happened? Rin shrank further against the tree as one demon moved toward her, not stopping and backing away this time. Whatever had prevented the demons before was now gone. Rin glanced up at a sudden commotion, and saw Sesshomaru destroying the demons with Tokijin. Rin's attention was drawn back to the demon making a beeline for her. Rin squeezed her eyes shut as the demon leapt at her. _'Lord Sesshomaru!'_

Rin expected an attack, but it never came. Cautiously, she opened her eyes and saw Sesshomaru standing near her, looking down at her silently, "Lord Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru turned and started to walk, "Let's go, Rin."

Rin follwed after Sesshomaru tentatively, mostly convinced that she was with the real Sesshoamru, "Are you the real Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin asked after a few moments of silence.

Sesshomaru had sensed unease in Rin when he had started to walk away. _ 'So that is what is bothering her.'_ Sesshomaru didn't turn around as he spoke, "This Sesshomaru is real. The fake one was weak and gone now."

Rin giggled at Sesshomaru's reply, and hurried to catch up with him, walking alongside him, "Well, you saved me from those demons, so that makes you the real one anyway." Rin suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground. She braced herself as she hit the ground. She must have stayed awake for too long keeping an eye on the demons that had been surrounding her. Rin was about to get up when Sesshomaru suddenly picked her up and kept on walking.

"..."

Rin smiled, glad that Sesshomaru had found her before the other demons had gotten any closer to her. She was really tired now, but felt safe knowing that Sesshomaru was back with her. Rin snuggled up against his chest and drifted to sleep in a relatively short amount of time, murmuring "Thank you..."

"..."

Sesshomaru headed back to where he had left Jaken and Ah-Un, carrying along a sleeping Rin. Seshomaru thought that Naraku was foolish, trying to get other demons to slow him down. He wasn't going to let low-life demons hurt Rin. Not like the wolves had when Sesshomaru had first met her. Sesshomaru entered the clearing and saw that Jaken had fallen back asleep, Ah-Un poking one of its heads at the sleeping imp. Sesshomaru stood near one of the nearby trees, deciding that traveling onward could wait for the next day.

-x-x-

Thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it, and I apologize for the slow updates. While I have homework, I'm going to try and attempt to write longer chapters, since I can't update as often until I get breaks from class. I'll update when I am able to. I don't think I need to up the rating if I only post a few T rated ones now and then.


	50. Interlude V

What's this, an update?

D:

I hadn't realized that I hadn't updated for so long.

Sorry about the long period of inactivity. I DO plan on continuing to update this story. I'm just having a harder time getting ideas for it. I am also trying to focus on my coursework (by now you should have-perhaps-realized that I am now in college, since I've been mentioning homework since I started this story back in 2006/2007). And yes, I feel irritated that sometimes my writing isn't what I'd like it to be. I am considering editing the first half of this story to make it sound more intelligent/flowing/etc.

SO, as much as I enjoy writing this story and the other stories, coursework comes first, because I'm planning on graduating soon. This means that until then (and then trying to get an actual job) updates will be erratic (homework/needing ideas/job hunting/etc.). But I will update because these chapters are relaxing in comparison to homework/presentations.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Inuyasha series. I just like writing fluff with these characters.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It was getting late, and she couldn't fall asleep. In a way it was her own fault.

Rin drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head a top them. She had been in this hut for hours, with daylight fading into evening again. Rin eyed her captors warily (the backs of them, anyway), relieved that they were ignoring her for the moment. Before, they had been staring at her and Rin hadn't been sure what they were thinking.

The morning had been just like any other, and Rin hadn't realized that she would be in this position later that day.

Rin had woken up next to Ah-Un, before heading right for Jaken to pester him, from where he was resting next to the dying fire from the night before. Rin had wanted to know where Sesshomaru had gone off to, since the only thing she did know was that he had left the camp late at night, right before she had fallen asleep. It hadn't bothered her much, since Sesshomaru normally left without any explanation or warning.

That morning, however, Rin had decided to be curious as to where Sesshomaru had gone off to, especially since there had been talk of unsavory beings targeting people traveling alone or without armed guards. Not that anyone would dare attack Sesshomaru. It would be foolish to even try. Jaken had, as usual, blown her off, and told her to mind her own business (which told Rin that Jaken didn't know where Sesshomaru had gone). Being ignored by the imp didn't concern Rin too much, and she had wandered off to go look for something to do to pass the time, and perhaps even catch a glimpse of a returning Sesshomaru.

Instead, the wandering off had put her in her current predicament.

Rin had been kidnapped without warning by silent assailants, and they had brought her to a small hut, which they guarded by standing outside. Rin couldn't hear what they were talking about, but was sure that it wasn't good. Why else would they be whispering? They obviously didn't want her to eavesdrop.

By then, it was nighttime, and Rin was hungry and tired. Her captors had offered her food, but she was wary of them, and not trustworthy enough even though she was hungry.

Rin grew apprehensive when she was ushered out of the hut by the three men. Before anything could be said or done, Rin noticed something at the edge of the forest clearing, "Oh, Lord Sesshomaru!"

The gathered men turned abruptly, surprised at the sudden appearance of Sesshomaru. They hadn't heard anyone approaching.

Sesshomaru stared impassively at the men, thinking it below him to even bother taking out such vermin. Sesshomaru's eyes bored into one man in particular that had looked about ready to go for a weapon. Instead, the look caused the spineless cur to turn and flee. The remaining two men were frozen in place, as if fearing their imminent demise should they make any unnecessary movement. Smart humans.

Rin, either oblivious or used to Sesshomaru's stares, raced forward with a smile and a happy gleam in her eyes.

Sesshomaru glared haughtily at the two men, before turning and walking back into the forest, Rin following close behind him.

The two men exchanged glances with one another. They had not been expecting that. All the three of them had been trying to do was bring lost children they found in the forest to nearby villages to see if the child had wandered away from home. They had been discussing which of the nearest villages they should try bringing Rin to.

It seemed like they didn't have to worry about it now. Obviously, Rin hadn't lost her way in the forest.

-x-

In a denser part of the forest, Sesshomaru headed back for the camp where Jaken was roasting fish. The way Rin clung lightly to his sash and what he could sense from her told him that she was hungry. Perhaps he'd give Jaken a swift kick as a reminder to not let Rin wander off without supervision. It was just like humans to kidnap others of their kind without any reason.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

XP

Did anyone think the men were going to do anything bad to Rin?

Wrote this in my psych class. XD I was trying to write at least one chapter with little to no dialogue in a bit of a different style. Though I believe I'll go back to conversations and no flashbacks since it can get confusing. I think it was okay in this one since it was so short.

I'll try and get an update up again much sooner, as long as I get an idea and have finished my coursework first. I did see some suggestions in the reviews, so I might work from those for now.

Thanks for reading, and not demanding for an update. I already feel bad enough not updating, since I really enjoying writing these short chapters. The delay was also due to the fact that I want to try and put up decent chapters, not hurried ones. Apologies for any typos.


	51. Flowers 2

You can probably tell what I'm obsessed with at the moment by what I've been posting recently, but I finally feel in less of a dark mood, so I'm going to try and update this story more often, because I need more fluff and humor in my life.

Disclaimer: I think you all know by now that I still own nothing from the Inuyasha series, so I'll stop putting these up cause obviously that fact will never change.

X-x-x

Rin was having a blast racing around the field of tall grass, arms outstretched as she moved about, enjoying the breeze that buffeted her.

Several paces behind her, Jaken was trying to keep up, his calls falling upon deaf ears, "Where do you think you are going, you silly girl? Lord Sesshomaru wanted us to stay put!"

Rin, oblivious to the imps' cries, continued to race along, feeling happy that day with the brightly shining sun and the clear sky overhead. Rin was so delighted that she ended up running further and further ahead of Jaken, until he was lost in the distance.

Jaken came to a halt, breathing hard and leaning against his two-faced staff. He looked in the direction Rin had dashed off in, before he cast a look around the immediate area, as if he expected Sesshomaru to come popping into existence to express his displeasure at Jaken losing Rin again. Likely with a swift kick. Jaken shook his head. No, he wasn't going to let that happen. Getting his breath under control, Jaken hurried off in the direction that Rin had gone.

X-x-x

Sesshomaru was staring impassively into space after he had finished observing his half-brother and his companions make nuisances of themselves in a village. Sesshomaru's expression held an almost scowl. Another wasted trip; he had almost believed that he would have crossed paths with Naraku this time.

Nearby, Ah-Un was waiting for its master to finish whatever he was doing.

Sesshomaru cast one more look of displeasure in his half-brother's direction, before turning with unnecessary dramatic flair. He leapt into the sky to gracefully glide through the air back to where he had left Rin and Jaken earlier that day.

Ah-Un followed along silently.

Sesshomaru arrived in the grassy field shortly, and cast a look around, his face taking on what appeared to be bored indifference. No one was there. Sesshomaru tested the scents on the air, before turning and heading off in the direction that Rin and Jaken had gone. Sesshomaru located Jaken easily, and after a swift kick, left the groveling imp with Ah-Un to go and locate Rin.

X-x-x

Rin had realized quickly that she was lost again, but at least this time no one was around to scare her or take her away to some unknown place. Rin had stopped running about in a small field of flowers, and decided to take a break there. She didn't want to go too much farther, because while Rin knew that Sesshomaru would be able to find her, she didn't think that Jaken would be able to.

So, to pass the time, Rin started to make bracelets out of the flowers around her, smiling as she hummed to herself. She was in the process of making a fifth one when she heard impossibly soft footsteps. Rin looked up with a smile, "Lord Sesshomaru!" She finished off the flower bracelet, and gathered up the other four, skipping over to where Sesshomaru was standing at the edge of the field. Rin scuffed the ground with her foot, "I'm sorry I ran off. I didn't think I had gone too far."

"I didn't find Naraku, so we're leaving." Sesshomaru intoned, as he wasn't quite sure what to do with the girl's apology. Children wandered off all the time, so it wasn't really her fault. It was Jaken's for not keeping a better eye on her.

Rin searched Sesshomaru's face, and after apparently seeing something in the demon lord's face, broke into a happy smile, "Ok. Oh, here…" Rin closed the distance between the two of them, and reached out to grab Sesshomaru's hand.

Sesshomaru held still as Rin slipped a flowery bracelet over the demon's wrist, smiling as she held up her own wrist, "Now we both have one."

Sesshomaru stared at Rin's beaming face for a moment, before dropping his gaze to his wrist where the flowery monstrosity was resting against his skin.

Ruining the touching mood was Jaken, who came hurrying into the clearing with Ah-Un.

Rin didn't notice Sesshomaru's expression as she walked over to the rather beaten up-looking Jaken, and Ah-Un tossing its heads at the tugging of its halter.

Sesshomaru watched as Rin looped two of the flower bracelets over the ears of Ah-Un's heads, before trying to give one to Jaken, who wasn't in the mood to humor her after having Sesshomaru beat him around for losing tack of her again.

"I don't want your flowers, girl!"

"But I wanted to give one to everyone!"

"Hah! Like my Lord Sesshomaru would want one of those things."

Sesshomaru started to walk off, his sleeve dropping over his wrist lightly as he went.

Rin noticed the movement, and after sneakily dropping the flower bracelet over Jaken's hat, she scrambled after the retreating demon, "Lord Sesshomaru! Wait for us!"

Sesshomaru heard Jaken grumbling something under his breath about human girls and their obsession with flowers, before Sesshomaru glanced down at Rin, who was now walking alongside him. The flowery bracelet was still around his wrist, and Sesshomaru decided he would leave it there, for the time being.

After all, it wasn't like it was causing him any harm.

X-x-x

Fluffy enough? I like to think that Rin wanders off on purpose so that she can see Sesshomaru without Jaken around piping up. Plus I think that Sesshomaru is more likely to show affection in his own odd way when it is only the two of them.

I'm going to go back through the reviews to look for requests that I may have missed (I lost my list of chapter ideas awhile back).


	52. Frazzled

"Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru moved along the path in silence, though he did cast a brief look in Rin's direction. Without a word, he faced forward once more.

A short time passed before Rin tried again, "Lord Sesshomaru? What happened to your hair?"

There was a long stretch of silence, before Sesshomaru spoke, "...fire demon."

Rin wore a perplexed look, until Jaken provided a better explanation.

"The fire demon let out a fiery breath before it died. It singed Lord Sesshomaru's hair as a result..." Jaken discreetly sidled away from the demon lord's immediate vicinity when said demon fixed the imp with a withering glare.

Rin fell into a thoughtful silence as the group continued on their way.

Sesshomaru traveled effortlessly, pointedly ignoring his damaged, singed and puffed up hair, while trying to retain as much dignity as he could muster. Sesshomaru's indifference lasted until some foolish bandits decided to set upon them and jeer at his damaged hair.

The resulting retaliation made the dazed, foolhardy bandits learn a hard lesson.

One does not insult an already irate demon lord on a bad hair day.

X-x-x-x-x-x

I'm going to go back to the 500 words or less a chapter for the time being. They're easier to write (in this story's case), especially while I'm job hunting yet wanting to update with fluffy chapters. I'm going to look back and see if I missed any, but I am still open to chapter suggestions, even if it's just a word to prompt an idea.


	53. Ignorance is Bliss

Rin was riding on Ah-Un's saddle, when the beast came to an abrupt halt. Rin wondered why Ah-Un had stopped, but the answer soon became clear as Sesshomaru came into view over a hill before them.

Sesshomaru walked by, ignoring Jaken's stuttered queries, and spoke shortly, "We're going."

Ah-Un automatically turned to follow after the demon lord.

Rin was perplexed that they were headed back the way they had come. Rin then decided then that Sesshomaru knew what he was doing, and settled into the saddle more comfortably to enjoy the scenery of the forest.

Jaken hurried to Sesshomaru's side, glancing over his shoulder at the hill Sesshomaru had come from, "Don't we have to cross that river over the hill to check on that clue about Narkau, Lord Sesshomaru?"

Sesshomaru continued to walk as if he hadn't heard Jaken.

Jaken frowned to himself, then voiced aloud, "Doesn't this add time, going around all of the dead demons over the hill? Wouldn't it be faster to go through the enemies you've already slain?" Jaken scurried away at the look Sesshomaru threw him.

Rin was again confused by her companions' actions, and would have been further perplexed with the fact that Sesshomaru was leading them the long way around so Rin did not have to see a heap of dead demon corpses. Not that it would have been the first dead body Rin had seen, which had led to Jaken's own confusion.

Sesshomaru continued on his way wordlessly, and his thoughts remained a mystery to Rin, while Jaken was left to ponder the demon lord's actions.


End file.
